Black Rain Chronicles
by BamStroker
Summary: A zombie story with elements of humor, some politics   Not much, I promise. and interesting characters.
1. Foreword

**Black Rain Chronicles**

**Prologue/Foreword**

Alright, those of you who found this story by means of making me a favorite author or something of close origin… Thank you, and you're the shit. But to all the others who stumbled upon it, actually… this still includes the aforementioned people… but this story is in no way correlated with Hell's Half Acre. I have decided to put that story on hiatus for at least the time being. But now, onward we go to the ever-exciting somewhat version of a prologue.

This story's origins lie in a somewhat political standpoint, having to do with the BP situation in the gulf. The pollution that devastated that eco system ended up causing some.. Unforeseen problems. An unknown company has dumped another type of unknown pollution into the gulf and the mixture of the two caused an atmospheric phenomenon to occur; A black colored rain fell from the sky in the general areas of the gulf. It caused many people do be sick and later to turn grisly and violent. What the rest of the world saw through the filtered eye of the censored newscast, was that random outbreaks of violence had begun to spread throughout the gulf region, and in the days that followed, it began to spread its bloody fingers up northward through the southern United States. By the time the violence reaches Georgia it is well known that the violence was the product of an outbreak of a new strain of rabies spread by a wild animal to someone living on the Bayous of Louisiana, who then spread it onward by unknown means.

It is when the violence reaches the heart of South Carolina that our story begins. In a world where violence has become so common place we have desensitized ourselves to it, we will see the error of our ways. I hope you enjoy it.


	2. Chapter 1: A Night On The Town

**Black Rain Chronicles**

**Chapter 1: A Night On The Town**

Standing outside my house and looking up the road for signs of headlights, I waited on my friends, Rusty and Haley to pick me up. I took a drag off of my cigarette and tossed the spent butt into the gravel driveway. Becoming anxious because of the wait I checked my phone for missed calls, and when that was to no avail, I began playing Tetris. It was around 3 or 4 minutes later when headlights came hauling ass around the turn before my driveway. I began walking down it to meet them at the end. Once they pulled in I jumped into the car, I said my greetings and they said their's back as we drove off down the road towards Concord, or better yet, our destination in Concord, a karaoke place we referred to as the Diner. Living out in bumfuck Egypt as we did, there wasn't much else to do. "Hey Rusty, you mind stopping at Walgreens so I can pick up some cigarettes man?", "Nah, that's cool man." Rusty replied. "So have either of you guys heard anything else about this Rabies shit or whatever it is?" Haley spoke up and said "No, not really… nothing more than whats been said the last few days… they keep saying its getting closer to us but I think its overblown bullshit." I nodded and said "Yeah… I feel you… if it isn't the war in Iraq killing all our mother's sons… it's a spill in the gulf… or something just as fucking fear invoking. I honestly stopped giving a fuck." We kind of chuckled at that and went silent for a while. The silence becoming too boring, I put my headphones in and turned on my Zune. I just watched the road pass by under the treads of the tires and letting song after song just drift through my ears. About 20 minutes later I saw the big, ugly, dirty ass sign that read "Concord Family Restaurant" and we passed it by as we sped into the parking lot.

As we got out of the car and resituated our clothes to make sure we at least looked as decent as we did upon entering the car in the first place. We lit our cigarettes and began our march up to those ever nostalgic doors. Being that since the NC Talking Heads Society, (a.k.a the basic rule Nazi government of NC) had outlawed smoking indoors, we stood out front and made idol chitchat with whatever other smokers had ventured their own ways into the parking lot. They all talked amongst themselves and I even through in a "Hey man, whats up?" every now and again. But ever since I had seen the more recent details in the news broadcasts, I just couldn't let my mind wander away from it, no matter how my opinion itself differed on the fact that it could simply be another fuckin' gigantic media disaster made from the parts of a small town influenza outbreak story… or making mountains out of mole hills as anyone else would say it. We finally flicked the useless stub of our cigarette butts out into the parking lot and we all headed inside to sit down. We noticed upon arrival that a lot of the patrons were gathered around the TVs and watching with utter awe. It did appear that since this morning the broadcasts seemed to have gotten increasingly worse. Last I had seen the outbreak had reached the heart of Alabama and on up into Georgia. But now the TV brought forth imagery from South Carolina. _It was getting closer_.

The waitress finally made her way over and asked if we needed anything. I pulled my gaze away from the TV and told the waitress to bring me a Killian's, and Rusty and Haley proceeded with their orders. Being an Irishman by blood, the good old hand of a pint was always the easiest thing to fall back on in times of crisis.

Time went past, as did empty bottle after empty bottle, and finally I was in an inebriated state. I began making small talk with Rusty and Haley, went up and sang a couple songs, talked to a couple girls and had a good time. I had finally succeeded in breaking the curse.

We left home after closing and walked on in the doors of my house at around 2:30. We broke out the pipe, packed it up, and passed it around a few times. "So… you guys just wanna chill here tonight? I mean fuck man… it'd be easier on gas since we're supposed to be up tomorrow to go get Billy." I said to them, "Yeah man…. Sounds like a plan to me…" Rusty said through chapped lips, looking at me with extremely heavy eyes and the gimpyest grin you ever did see. "Alright, well I guess that's the plan, then.. Just go to sleep wherever you fall… and don't fuck in my bed… especially not with me in it… I'm still sore from last time man…" At that Haley laughed and threw her shoes at me and we all just passed out where we were sitting on the bed.

I went to sleep in a state full of monsters and maniacs, as I usually did. Dreaming of blood and gore as I had every night since I could piss straight, Not knowing I would open my eyes in a place a phase worse than the dreams. A place where the monsters and maniacs were your own flesh and blood, coming after you… well for your flesh and blood. If I had known…. I wonder what kind of fucked up dreams I'd of had instead.


	3. Chapter 2: Worst Hangover Ever

**Chapter 2: World's Worst Hangover**

Usually I'm not one for hangovers, but for some reason, this morning in particular decided it was Fuck with Bam Day, and was celebrating it by doing a fucking jig in my skull. I looked around and the others had already gotten up and started their day. I got up and walked into the kitchen to find them standing in the kitchen and listening to the little CD Player/Radio thing we had mounted under the cabinets.

"Wouldn't watching the news on TV be a little more informative guys?" I said with a yawn. Niether of them looked away from the radio and Rusty only spoke to tell me the TV was out for some particular reason. As I walked over and began listening to the current report, the fear that had gripped me the night before, grabbed me by the heart with its frigid hands once again.

"…_Ladies and Gentlemen of the regions of Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Union, and Rowan counties… The violence and sickness that has recently overtaken the majority of our southernmost neighbors, seems to have reached our very backyards. At this time you are asked to remain in your homes, arm yourselves well, and barricade all doors and windows until help arri…"_

It was about this time the phone began ringing incessantly. I ran over and checked the ID and saw my mom's number. "Hello?"… then I heard static and finally my mom's voice came through. "Cameron… Look… We're not going to make it back any time soon. They've put up roadblocks and stuff all over and we're being asked to stay indoors…" "Well… are you guys okay?… Mom?"…"Yeah we're fine. Your dad's got a major cough… but that's what I tell you and him both about smoking." she said, feigning a laugh. "Yeah, I know mom… just promise me you guys'll stay in touch and let me know whats going on."…"Yeah, I promise… Just listen to me Cameron… I love you… Just remember that okay?.." "I love you… too mom… whats going on?"… it was then the line went dead. I tried yelling for her and calling back but there was no dial tone, and when tried from a cell phone, it would give us a busy signal.

I sat down at the table and stared at the ground. "What happened man?" Rusty said. "That was my mom… not to sound melodramatic or anything… but we never say I love you… you know? Its like… we've never really needed to… we're all close and know how we feel… somethings wrong. I think my dad might be getting sick." Rusty nodded, "Wait… you mean theyre still in the mountains?" Rusty continued…" I figured they'd be halfway back by now." "Yeah… theyre barricaded in… roadblocks everywhere and whatnot… theyre stuck."

Still stuck on my last thought, we were all startled when the TV suddenly came to life, and a broadcast was made. Now they were imploring people to come to rescue stations around the area, but to avoid Charlotte at all costs. The broadcast was rather short and anticlimactic in the given situation. Whenever you see it in movies there's always so much going on all over TV and the news stations. But since all news stations for the area were located in Charlotte, except the one in Waxhaw, which was the one we suddenly saw unfold on our television screen.

Sitting there, still in a half daze, listening to the droning voice of the anchorman… We all were unaware of the stomping and dragging of dead feet in the driveway, headed right for the house. Not until the trouble was literally knocking at my front door.


	4. Chapter 4: Supply Run Pt 1

Chapter 4: Supply Run Pt 1

**After finishing up with the gun maintenance I walked into the kitchen to see how Rusty and Haley were doing. They had apparently gotten tired of watching the same bullshit on the news reports and decided to watch a movie. Looking at the clock and seeing it was going on 7:30 and it would be dark soon enough, I went back into the office to grab a couple hammers, nails, a hatchet and screw drivers. **

"**Alright, we need to barricade the weak spots at least until morning. There aren't many people in the neighborhood so I doubt a horde will descend upon us, but its better to be safe. I'm going to take the doors off of a couple of the rooms and I'll need your guys' help to nail 'em up. Any other ideas are more than welcomed." .Without a word they both got up and we got to work on the job at hand. We boarded up the large window in the living room and put a couple of the doors across the glass panel back doors in the kitchen, afterwards all that was left was putting some wood across the side door windows and barricading the window in my room. We got it all done in a short amount of time and with minimal amounts of problems. Being that the living room was boarded up the best, I figured it would be a good idea to stay in there for the remainder of the night. We ended up falling asleep around 12:00 or 1:00 and luckily, nothing else showed up that day.**

**The next morning we woke up around ten, and ate breakfast. "So how'd you guys sleep last night?" I said across the table. "Surprisingly enough… better than usual… because fucknut here wasn't fighting Jackie Chan in his fucking sleep." Haley said pointing at Rusty. "Alright, well after we eat, we need to split up the guns and ammo, then we need to make our supply run up to Key's and the grocery store… hopefully we'll be able to make it back here and hold out for a little while longer. That cool with you guys?". "Yeah man… that's cool. Is it okay if I smoke in here man?" Rusty said holding a cigarette up. "Well… I don't see how it matters much now man… I'm damned sure not going outside to smoke a cigarette because the parents don't want the place smelling like smoke…" I said back to him as I lit one myself. We sat around the table smoking our cigarettes and enjoying the peace while we could, because something told us all that the day was about to turn bad real soon.**

**After we smoked and got the guns and ammo divvied up amongst each other, we grabbed our shit and headed out the door. I ended up with my .38 revolver, .22 rifle and all the ammo for the rifle, Haley, being that she was stationed in the military got the Mauser and a .38, while Rusty got a .38 himself and my dad's pump shotgun. Each of us ended up with about 20 bullets a piece for the .38s and whatever ammo there was for the other guns we had. We piled into the Jeep and headed on down the road.**

**Going down Bethel Church Road was uneventful to say the least. It seemed as if everyone had simply just gotten up and left. Once we got to the highway 24/27 intersection it was a different story. Car accidents were everywhere. Some cars seemed to have just stopped in the middle of the road. As we passed by a few of them, we saw blood leading from inside the car and pooling on the ground outside of open doors. The old Bethel school was burning on its foundations and was almost half reduced to ashes. Once we passed the school and got on down the road things cleared up some. The Crossroads as we called it, the intersection of 24/27 and 601, was dead still. It was a massively eerie sight. As we pulled closer to the intersection it got even worse. The stores had never opened their doors today and it didn't seem anyone had come this way. As we passed through and looked down 601 in both directions, it was just as empty. "Um… guys… where the fuck is everybody?" Haley said as she stared out the passenger side window. "I don't know babe" Is all Rusty could say… which was better than the silence that came from me. As we passed the Pepsi bottling plant I told Rusty to stop in at the Army Navy store. He pulled in and we all jumped out. I broke the glass in the door's window and an alarm began to sound. "We should probably hurry… I don't know if theyre attracted by sound or not." I said, "Well what do we need here anyway?" Haley said. "Well it would be in our best interest to get some knapsacks and ammo belts. Maybe get some clothes and shit, I'm damned sure getting some boots." They nodded in understanding and we walked in. I took point and began scanning the area. As we started looking around we heard something in a back room. I shushed them and pointed towards the dressing room area. We walked in silence when we saw that someone was struggling to open the door to the dressing room. I walked up slowly to the door, "Okay, Haley, get ready. When I open this door, get ready to shoot if there's an unfriendly on the other side." She nodded and said she was ready. I swung the door open and the owner fell out onto the floor. As he began standing up slowly we saw he was one of them. He began making his way towards Haley when she dropped him with a headshot. Gore shot all over the place as its skull erupted in a spray of blood, brain, and bone. He fell to the ground and we stepped over him. We quickly went throughout the store and grabbed what we needed. I went under the counter and came back with 3 machetes, and handed them to Rusty and Haley. Feeling confident we had what we needed we headed outside. As we rounded the corner to the car we froze. Coming down the highway from the direction we had come, a horde of over 200 zombies was heading our way. "Well guys, It doesn't look like we'll be heading home any time soon" I said as we jumped into the Jeep and headed down the road toward Key's gun shop.**


	5. Chapter 5: Supply Run Pt 2

**Chapter 5: Supply Run Pt. 2**

Watching those hungry, dead, and rotting things shambling our way en masse definitely scared the shit out of us. As soon as the tire treads hit pavement, we were gone. "Okay… so ..um… I don't know about you guys… but that was scarey shit!… do you know how bad its going to fucking suck if they catch up to us?" I screamed. "Yeah… its going to suck pretty bad… that means hurry your ass up in the gun shop fatty." Rusty replied to me. "Fuck you man, you're going in too! Plus… fatty? Really?.. In the god damned apocalypse?" I spat. "Dude… you should know by now that even the end of the world ain't gonna stop me from fuckin' with you…". "Yeah well thanks a fucking lot friend…" I said. Rusty laughed and said "Hey man… Its like I told you before… with friends like these… who needs enemies?"

With the last line he spoke we all burst into laughter, Momentarily forgetting about the Zombie enema heading right up behind us. We sped on down the road and passed by the farms and over the bridge. As we passed Reed Mine road I looked at them and said, "Hey man… On our way back… you know if we aren't rampaged by a bunch of fuckin' zombies… I wanna go and check on my brother. I know a few back ways in regardless and maybe we can use it to fake the zombies out you know?… Theyre chasing us down the highway, if we go up here and loop around to the back entrance… maybe they'll lose our scent or whatever, you know?. Rusty simply nodded in understanding and Haley agreed it wasn't such a bad idea. We drove another mile or two and passed by Stanley Community College and the strip mall that accompanied the school. As we neared our destination and looked forward into the gaping maw that was the town of Locust, we saw that there were quite a few of the ghouls lurking around but were mostly spread out.

We pulled into the gravel parking lot of the store and we all got out somewhat slowly, checking our surroundings. I lit a cigarette and took point as we headed forward towards the store. When we got to the door it was locked, and after a couple knocks we heard shuffling in the store. My eyes went wide and I held my ear to the door. "Anybody in there?" I called out. "We're not infected… we're just looking for help.". A slender looking redneck came walking up to the door. He kept looking at us and finally said "How do I know y'all ain't infected?". "Because we have no desire to come in and eat you?" I said. He got an uncomfortable look on his face at first and finally unlocked the door. Looking warily at me, as it doesn't seem my sarcasm was much to his taste. We walked in and he shut the door behind us and locked it, "Where're Y'all from?" he asked us. "Midland, you own this place?" I asked. "Yeah me and my…. Brother do, did." he said. "Do? Or did? Which is it man?" I said, "Sorry… I… uh.. This mornin' my brother got up and tried to eat me for breakfast. Not bein' too keen on becomin' a Jimmy Dean sausage biscuit. I shot eem. Right in the face." He looked more through me, than at me as tears began enveloping his eyes, but as quickly as they'd come he wiped them away. "No use rememberin' the past in times like this. What can I do for you guys?" I looked at him empathetically in a sense, considering I had been wondering since we saw Reed Mine road whether or not I was gonna get to hug my brother or have to shoot em. "Whats your name man?" I asked the man. "Name's Ritchie. Y'all come in here for some guns I take it?". "Originally, yeah. But now that we found you here we need to warn you that theres a fuuuuuuck load of zombies heading this way man. Its not safe here. You should come with us. At least so we can take you where you want to go." He chewed it over for a minute and looked at me with a sad grin on his face, "I'm right where I need to be… My brother was all I had left… This was the place I remember being the happiest so I decided if I was already going to die… I may as well die here. But you guys can take whatever you want, just make sure to leave me somethin, just in case I change my mind.". "Come on man, we can't just leave you here to die while we fuckin' skip away with all your shit. Just come with us pl-" He interrupted me mid-sentence, "No, I'm serious now. Take what you need. I'm happy right where I am. Now y'all go on and pick your best, Imma go in this back room here and lay down for a nap. Y'all take care!" He said as he walked into the adjoining room and locked the door. In dead silence I stared at that door expecting him to come out and say he was kidding, but he never did. We walked around and looked at our options. My wandering eye landed on the barrel of the .223 Scoped Carbine that I had been eyeing for the past 2 years. I picked it up, checked the bolt and put the strap over my shoulders. As I continued searching a came across a new item I had not yet seen in the store, a pair of Opposing Black and Crome .40 caliber Smith and Wesson semi auto pistols just like the one my brother had, just slightly more bad ass. I picked them up and and dusted them off as Rusty began scanning the display box himself. Haley and I were startled by a high pitched scream as Rusty's eyes fell upon a chromed out 50 Caliber Desert Eagle. He quickly busted the glass with the butt of his .38 and grabbed the gun out of the display. Looking as though he was holding his child for the first time, Rusty stood there in awe of his find.

Haley laughed and then picked up, what apparently had belonged to Ritchie's brother, as it had Buddy Keys USMC engraved in small letters along the side paneling of a .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle. "Just like the one I used when I was in the Corps. Wonder why he decided to sell it, I'd figure it'd be illegal." Haley said as she checked the action on the rifle. She walked over to the counter display and chose a pistol that I couldn't identify myself, which is why I hadn't chose it. "Alright, grab some ammo for the guns we got here and the ones we brought. Rusty, now that I got this Carbine, take my .22 and use it. Get your shit and lets go!" We quickly stuffed the ammo belts and web gear we had gotten from the Army Navy store and began filling up the knapsacks. As we dropped the last box of .223 bullets into the last knapsack, we caught a whiff of the train wreck headed our way. We ran out the door as soon as they crested the hill, which unluckily for us, meant they were all of 150 feet away from us rather than a quarter of a mile. We could see their horrible injuries and wounds so closely that we could see the ripples in the intestines one was dragging and tripping on as it shambled ever so closer to us. We ran to the car as quickly as possible and threw the bags in the car. Rusty jammed the key into the ignition and turned it. We waited for the engine to start and only got the sounds of stalling. Eyes wide with fear we looked at each other, with each expression saying "Fuck, we're going to die.". Rusty kept turning the key and every time we heard the infamous calls of the stalling engine. By now some of the things had reached the car and were clawing on the windows, banging their hands on them. It was then that I saw my window was partially down and there was a hand coming through it and grabbing at me. Before I could move it grabbed my Mohawk and began to pull on it. I tried to pull its fingers free, but it held on for dear life, or its version of life that is. After trying unsuccessfully for what seemed like hours to get this thing off my head, another hand came through. As it headed towards my face to assail me with its undead, reeking fingers, an idea hit me. I reached around beside me for the machete. I fumbled and grabbed around for a few seconds before finally hitting pay dirt. Grabbing the machete I swung as well as I could at the dead hand. It hit and sunk in, but the thing was still holding on. I swung once more and struck again. This time the hand tumbled down my face as a bloody nub receded through the opening. A few seconds later the car turned to life as the engine began to rev. Rusty floored it and we knocked our way through the waves of zombies. We headed down into Locust, turning right onto the highway.

Sitting in the backseat, bloody and in shock, we drove onward toward my brother's house. As I sat there I hoped and prayed that he'd be alive, and hoping against hope that God was even listening anymore. Haley climbed into the backseat and began cleaning me up, and I sat speechless the entire drive down the highway. I looked onward as the possibilities of death and undeath pulled us closer and closer into its wretched, moaning mouth.


	6. Chapter 6: Blood Brothers

**Chapter 6: Blood Brothers**

As we drove onto Hartsell road towards my brother's house, the shock faded and gave way to pure fear. Millions of scenarios began to run through my head about the situation, none of which were any good. It was when the end of my brother's driveway became visible when my heart started beating hard and fast in my chest. We drove closer, then finally, we pulled onto the driveway. On first glance I saw that my brother's truck was gone, but April, his girlfriend's car was there. We pulled up beside the house and I jumped out of the Jeep. I ran around the back of the house, pistol in hand, and up to the sliding glass doors that looked into the living room. Seeing nothing inside, and no one heeding the call when I knocked, I took the butt of the pistol and busted the glass out. As I stepped through, Rusty and Haley came running along behind me.

Upon stepping into the house, the thick metallic smell of blood filled the air. My heart dropped in my chest. I cautiously moved forward. I looked around the living room for signs of struggle, there were none. I passed the door to my brother's room which was closed, and walked on towards my niece and nephew's rooms. Checking April's son Justin's room first as it was the first I passed, I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Walking onward and checking my nephew Nic's room, I saw that, yes, it was in a state of massive disrepair… but that was nothing out of the ordinary. I closed the door slowly and walked on towards Brook, my niece's room. As I slowly turned the door knob, an ominous feeling crept its way into my heart and soul. I cautiously opened the door and saw that there was a pool of blood

Rusty walked up behind me then, "Whats up man?"… I walked forward, eyes wide, without saying a word. Rusty soon saw what I did and began walking behind me. I knelt down on the floor and touched the blood. It had congealed slightly, but wasn't very old. Just then we heard a heavy banging sound coming from my brother's room. It sounded like bulls on parade in the fucking house. I pushed past Rusty and Haley and pulled my Carbine off my shoulder. Putting the stock into my shoulder I began walking, as if I were playing Call of Duty. Getting quickly to the door I kicked it open, and there before me was the bloody, injured remains of April. As soon as she saw me she charged forward with surprising speed. I fired the carbine but only managed to shoot her in the shoulder before she tackled me. Putting my hand under her chin, trying with all my might to hold her gnashing teeth away from my face, I struggled to gain leverage.

Haley came forward with her pistol and tried drawing a bead. "Bam I can't get a shot! If I shoot her I shoot you!" Haley said, in obvious distress. It was about this time Rusty came hauling ass around the corner and saw what was happening. He charged into April's side and knocked her off of me. I pulled my pistol up and fired 5 rounds into her head. The heavy caliber bullets slammed into her face and broke bone away from muscle away from flesh. In a matter of seconds those five shots destroyed her face. She fell limply onto her side and remained still. Rusty helped me up and checked me to make sure I hadn't been bitten. "Look, sorry I wasn't here earlier to help… Seeing blood in Brook's room man… you know how much I love those kids… Jesus Christ I hope theyre okay.." Rusty said. "Yeah, I know what you mean man… I'm right there with you. No need for apologies… hell I shouldn't of kicked the door in. But seeing that blood just sent rage through me." Rusty and I shook hands and we began looking around the house. We came across a note that said, "Over at denver's… if anybody reads this… bring my stash!". Reading it, I started laughing. Looking in my brother's usual areas, I found his stash and told the others to follow me.

We crossed the yard and walked into Denver's yard. Striding up to the front door of his house we knocked, "Slugger! Answer the fucking door if you're here!… We brought your fucking stash!" I yelled as I hammered away. Seconds passed and the door slowly opened revealing Nic standing there. We pushed past him and walked on inside. My brother was sitting on the couch "Hey man.." I said to him as I walked closer. "Hold the fuck on! Right where you fucking stand!" my brother yelled as he brought his gun to bare directed towards my head. "How do I know you ain't got the shit that makes you crazy?" I stopped mid-stride and put my hands up. "Sluggs… dude… we've just had to fight our way through Locust to come here and find you… not to mention I got attacked by April man.. What the fuck happened? Put the god damned gun down!" I yelled at him, which in any other time of my life, that wouldn't of happened. But I guess the unexpected was what it took to break the shell shock syndrome that had my brother in it's grips. He put the gun down and looked at the ground. "April… when April came home last night she had gotten in a fight with her dad… he had been sick and he just jumped up and attacked her… scratched her pretty good too. When she got here, I tried calling an ambulance but couldn't get through. Sydney had borrowed the Explorer so her car was our only option. But in the time it took me to lay her on the couch and go grab bandages, she was up and gone. By the time I found her, Justin was dead. He was dead as hell man. Him and Brook had been hanging out in her room and since he was closest to the door, she got him. She was eating him when I walked in. I grabbed her around the waist and dragged her into the bedroom and Justin right along with her. I locked her and him in the bathroom and we got the fuck out of there. I left a note so that if anybody came lookin'… they'd know where we were at." About that time Brooklyn came running around the corner and hugged me, then Haley, and then Rusty. "I'm just glad y'all are okay…-" Roger interrupted me as if he hadn't heard me talking. "Sydney's gonna be back soon, he ran to put gas in the Explorer, and we're all going to head up into Virginia where there aren't many people so we can wait it out… you guys are more than welcome to come…" I chewed it over, "I sadly have to decline… but would you mind if we rested here with you guys for a little while?… we've had a hell of a day ourselves…" He nodded and we all sat down. Blood covering most of my body at this point and not caring if I stained the couch, I relaxed. Closing my eyes and thanking God I didn't have to be the death dealer to my own brother, I drifted off into a light sleep. I dreamed of monsters and mad men.


	7. Chapter 7: Departure

_A/N: In case you were wondering. I've had to edit this chapter. Names have been changed as have a few other things. Still, enjoy._

**Chapter 7: Departure**

We left my brother's house about an hour afterward. I wanted to at least wait until Sydney returned with their ride so I didn't feel as though we were possibly stranding them. As we drove in silence, trying to find a working radio station, all we could pick up was static. Rusty finally spoke up, "I'm going to Greensboro to find my dad.. I have to know if he's okay.", We looked at him and I said finally "Rusty, what do you mean "I" man? We're in this shit together..' He broke in instantly and said "No. Going into Greensboro is very probably a stupid thing to do… I'm not making you guys do something unsafe like that.-" Just then Haley spoke up, "Don't tell me what you'll let me do Rusty William Burroughs!… I didn't get engaged to you so you could go and decide to go on a suicide mission by yourself. I'm going with you!" In any other case Rusty would have argued… as would I. But in seeing their conviction… There was nothing I could say… and in her conviction alone… Rusty and I were both speechless.

We rode in silence for a while after that. As we made our way back onto the main stretch of 24/27 I finally spoke up and said something. "I want to check on Delia… before we go anywhere… I want to check on Delia.". Rusty and Haley looked at each other and finally back at me and said in unison, "Fuck that shit dude. She broke your heart, the fat stupid slut. I hope she got eaten." I cracked a grin at that and said, "Why do you think I want to go check up on her? Just drive… if you just drop me the fuck off and leave and I have to find another ride. Just do it… please." Getting the point I was aiming at they drove onward. Around ten minutes later we came to the intersection of Bethel Church and 24/27 and took a left. Driving onward over the hilly terrain, turning on Bethel road and after that to a little back road which led into an area separated into three separate neighborhoods. It was in one of those neighborhoods in which we needed to go. Her's was Ravenwood. We drove onward to her house. I gritted my teeth and ran my tongue over my canine teeth, as had become a nervous tick when I was a kid; and when couple with the fact that my fucked up set of teeth to begin with, I'd been called a cannibal a few times. People claimed I looked almost tribal when I did it.

As we came around the curve, I saw that Delia's front door was wide open, and my heart dropped. Grabbing Rusty's shotgun out of the seat, I jumped out of the car as soon as we hit the driveway. I ran up the stairs and into the house when I saw blood splatter seeming to go everywhere. Looking in all obvious directions for a threat, I moved forward to the room to my direct right down a hallway, my heart hammering in my chest harder with every breath, and growing faster and heavier with every step toward that golden door knob. Praying against all hope, that what I thought was on the other side of the door, wasn't, I swallowed hard and reached for the knob. Turning the knob quickly, I swung the door open, and leaning over the crib, was Delia, eyes as white as milk. She looked up from the bloody mess in the crib and began walking towards me. Knowing in my heart, I had come here in both vengeful and parental intent, I realized all hope had now been crushed. Shambling towards me, with pieces of my son falling from her face, was my ex-fiancé. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a little voice screamed to me that even in mind of all the terrible things she had done, this was not something she would ever do of clear mind. Knowing that little voice was trying its every power to dull my hatred as much as possible, I still couldn't listen to it. Delia lumbered towards me, arms outstretched, ever so slowly as I raised the shotgun to fire. Seeing something silver glint out of the corner of my eye, I saw the anarchy symbol necklace I had given her hanging around her neck. Feeling all the rage and pain from everything she had done to me boil forth, I swung the stock at her head and kicked her to the ground. I put my foot on her chest and looked down at her writhing form, trying its damnedest to tear me apart. I put the barrel into her mouth and fired. Her head disintegrated into a pulp of blood and brain on the ground and all around the walls where it had sprayed. Reaching down I yanked the necklace from the stub of her neck and turned around. Rusty and Haley stood there, mouths agape. I pushed past them into the kitchen. I turned on the faucet and began cleaning the necklace. After I had gotten all the blood off of it, I connected it behind my neck. As the clasp clicked, I heard a sudden noise as Delia's mom fell into the kitchen from her bedroom door. "Help… Me…" She said as she lay there, her insides trailing behind her into her room. I took my pistol from its holster and walked over to where she lay. I held her hand and said a prayer with her, and said one over my son, and over Delia's soul, wherever it may land. I pointed the barrel to her head and pulled the trigger.

I got up off my knee and walked into her room where her bible lay on her nightstand. I laid the bible in her hand and walked past her body and back into the living room. I looked over my shoulder and into my son's room. I turned and walked in and sat on the couch, never turning on the light. Tears in my eyes I stared at the silent crib that sat before me. "I know you weren't my son by law… or by blood… And I know that I may not have been perfect… but I hope you can hear me, wherever you are Booboo. I love you, and wish I would have gotten here in time. I…." Without being able to finish, I got up from the couch and began to walk out. It was then that I saw his little lion toy dangling from the railing of his crib. Grabbing it I hooked it to my belt. I walked out of the room and out of the house.

When I was in the yard I stood there and waited on Rusty and Haley to find me. I lit a cigarette and watched them descend the stairs. Haley ran over and hugged me, I shook her off and walked away a little. Rusty walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder, "I'm sorry bro… I don't know what to say..". I took a hit off of my cigarette and exhaled before I replied. "Nothin' to be sorry about. I know everybody told me he wasn't my responsibility, but I loved him like he was my own… I wasn't there when it counted. I should have been. I should have fucking been here when he had a fighting fucking chance." Haley stood off to the side and finally said, "And this is why I don't believe in God. Why would he do this to his own people?" And for some reason, the words infuriated me. "Don't even start blaming God for this now! He is not to fucking blame!" Haley then retorted, "Don't go act all high and mighty Bam! You're just as pissed at God as I am!", "No the fuck I'm not!" I replied, "Every time we as humans fuck something up, we go and blame God. Well I'm not fucking doing it anymore man! We did this! We fucking brought this on ourselves! Not God! I just had to look at the pieces of my fucking son in a crib! God didn't do that to him, this fucking virus that the companies caused by being fucking stupid did that to him! God has just decided to fucking step back and let us all destroy ourselves because we've spent so fucking much time trying to prove that he doesn't exist, like we are so fucking powerful and special that we can do all of this shit on our own!" At this point, I got tired of screaming and walked back to the Jeep and sat there. Rusty and Haley stood there, deliberating what should be done.

After a couple minutes we had calmed down. They came back to the Jeep and we sat there in silence. Finally I spoke up to them and said, "I want you guys to find Rusty's dad… I'm going to go on alone for a while." They looked at me, "Dude, what the fuck? Its not safe by yourself. Come with us." Not giving in I replied "No, you guys go on. We'll meet up somewhere… The radio said that there is a military base and survivor camp out at Concord Mills… I'll find a car and go check on our people… see if maybe I can save some of them… Kind of my way of trying to repent, you know?." They reluctantly nodded their heads in agreement. Reaching in a knapsack from the Army store, I handed them a pair of military issue Walkie-talkies. "We can stay in contact with these, use the car charger to keep them charged. I'll do the same once I find a car, we'll figure out everything from there. That way you guys can let me know what you find out in Greensboro." Haley looked at me with tears in her eyes as if they'd never see me again, "You promise you'll talk to us right? No matter what?", "Yeah, I swear… I'm going to go back into the house and get Delia's mom's keys and take their car. You guys mind helping me unload it and shit before you go?." We all got out of the Jeep at that and set ourselves to work.

After we cleaned the car out, we hugged and they got into the Jeep reluctantly and drove away. Loading the guns and stuff into the car, I checked the mirrors and everything before starting the engine. After getting my general inspection completed, I backed out of the driveway, and began the route to exit the neighborhood. Before they had left, we decided we would make a joint raid of the gas station and tobacco stores before we parted ways. Not checking for traffic, I drove out of the neighborhood, and onward towards the gas station. I think we all knew we'd never see each other again. Not after the raids anyway. I knew that was how I felt at least.


	8. Chapter 8: The Raid  New Friends

**Chapter 8: The Raid/New Friends**

As I pulled the car into the gas station I saw Rusty's Jeep sitting in the usual parking place at the end of the building. I pulled in beside them and stepped out of the car with both Rusty and Haley quickly in tow. "Well guys… I hope they don't fuckin' ID my ass this time… Cuz I left my fuckin' wallet at home." I said to them as we walked up the side of the store. "Nah man… they know us here." Rusty said, continuing our joke.

We walked around the side of the store to the entrance to check on the situation inside. Within seconds of peering in, I saw movement. "What the fuck was that?" I said under my breath as I saw something scurry across the visible space inside again. Pulling my pistol from its holster, I tried the door, finding it locked as I figured I would. I stepped back a little and aimed at the lock. Right as my finger began to squeeze the trigger, Elizabeth slammed against the door screaming for me to stop. She unlocked the door and opened it, letting us in. As soon as the door was locked again, a hand smacked against the glass and smeared blood across it. It was Asma, the girl who worked alongside Elizabeth most shifts… and she was as dead as dead got these days.

Backing away from the door, we stepped over to the counter. "Elizabeth, why the fuck didn't you let us in before when you saw us? She could've taken a bite out of my ass man! I didn't even know she was following us!" I yelled mutely at her. "Sorry, I thought you were more of those people… well… til you pulled the gun anyway. If you remember correctly I let you in as soon as I saw you weren't one of them." She yelled back. "True enough." I said, "So, I'll take a carton of Pall Mall Menthol 100's if you don't mind". She flipped me off and handed me the carton. "Look, you guys can take whatever the fuck you want as long as you take me with you, because seriously, I'm not staying here anymore." Elizabeth said, finally calming down some. "Well, you can ride with me if you want. They're heading off on their own trek for the time being. I'm headed towards the military survivor center up in the Mills." Nodding in agreement with me, she stepped around the counter with a few bags. She handed some to Rusty and Haley and handed some to me. "Lets stock up then." Elizabeth said, grabbing some drinks out of the cooler by the counter. "I'm pretty fuckin' sure management isn't going to take this very fucking well Elizabeth." I said mockingly. "Dude… fuck this job." Elizabeth said. She went about getting food and drink while me and Rusty went about stocking up on cigarettes. It was about ten minutes later, when our bags were full that we finally stopped. Everyone sat their bounties up on the counter. I set mine down and walked to the back of the store to the beer cooler, seeing a six pack of George fuckin' Killian's Irish Red, I grabbed it and walked up front. Taking a bottle out, I took the top off and finished half the bottle in one long chug. "God damn that's fuckin' good." I said. "You fuckin' drunk…" Rusty replied.

"So… since Asma seems to be preoccupied on that side of the store, we should head out the other entrance and get our asses in the car. Actually… Fuck that. Elizabeth, hand me the keys to the store, go turn the pumps on. I'm gonna go take care of Asma. We need to fuel up before we head out. Considering we got ourselves enough cigarettes for a while, we don't need to raid the tobacco shop… especially considering all they sell is low end shit, and they'll be stale and worthless by the time we get to them anyway." At that I grabbed the keys and walked over to the door. I unlocked the door and kicked it open, spilling Asma on her ass. As she went to stand up, I shot her in the head and closed the door back. "Well… That's dealt with… Now lets go get some fucking gas."

We grabbed our bags and headed out the door. We put the bags in the cars and jumped in. Driving over to the pumps we saw that the mob of zombies that had initially chased us in the first place had finally begun catching up, and there they were about a half a mile down the road. I told Elizabeth to pump, and I grabbed my rifle and stood watch. Looking in the opposite direction of the initial horde, we saw a straggling few zombies heading our way across the parking lot. I drew a bead and began firing. When the pump picked up that the tank was full, I reached in the trunk and grabbed the extra gas can I had brought from inside the store and had Elizabeth fill it up. As soon as she finished with it, we said our goodbyes to Rusty and Haley, and we all jumped in our cars and headed down the road. We all headed down 601 towards our own respective destinations. Rusty and Haley ended up taking Mt. Pleasant Road to avoid a lot of people, while me and Elizabeth took 601 onward into Concord.

As we drove, we passed by houses that were barricaded, some had been barricaded but had succumbed to the zombie menace, and some had either burned to the ground, or had simply been abandoned. We didn't see many zombies wandering on the roads until we passed by what we called the Roach Motel and the subsequent neighborhood that laid behind it. It was all in utter chaos. Smoke billowing into the skies, dead bodies, both laying and walking all over the streets. We picked up speed as we passed by, just in hopes we could get away before we got noticed.

We passed by the small speedway, and many little side roads, seeing nothing but the usual emptiness that usually accompanied this area anyway. Passing over Rocky River we saw what can only be described as terrible things. Bodies flowed down the river, bloated and unmoving… bodies of women, men, sons, daughters, babies, teenagers, there was no discrimination.. They floated along together regardless. "Jesus Christ…" We both said in unison as we passed it by. The once beautiful homes that had lined the following area, were now more closely resembling haunted houses, as they stood gaunt and empty. The only house with anything close to resembling inhabiters, was a large two story wooden house, that the apparent owners had hung themselves from the wooden cross beams, and their bodies had reanimated… swinging around trying to escape the ropes that bound them to the place they once called home.

The areas that followed were just more of the same. Death and destruction littered the landscapes of Midland and became even worse once we passed into Concord. We said nothing to each other as we drove onward. Watching what was left of the world pass us by. After what seemed like hours of silence, Elizabeth looked over at me and spoke. "Is this all that's ever gonna be left of the world?… like… is it ever going to get fixed?" I shook my head… still staring out the windows… wondering the very same thing myself. "I don't know" I said to her. When we got to the volunteer fire department, I pulled into the parking lot and stopped. There was a sign over the windows that said, "People Alive Inside!". Lighting a cigarette, I said to myself, "I guess its time to begin fuckin' repenting." as I walked towards the door, unaware of what might lay on the other side of it.


	9. Chapter 9: The End Of The Beginning

**Chapter 9: The End of the Beginning**

As we sat in the car, staring at the ironically ominous building, fear of what might lay inside began to grip us. "Please don't make me go in there…" Elizabeth said as she stared wide eyed at the building. I looked over at her and said "I can't exactly make you go anywhere Elizabeth, but do you really want to stay out here in the open by yourself?… Because I am going in there…" She glanced over at me and sat speechless for a moment "Why do you **have** to go in there?… we could just drive off… chances are nobody's alive in there… I mean look at the blood on the door… its got bad idea written all over it." Thinking hard about what she had just said, my stare began to drift downward towards the gear shift. Why did I have to go? I began to ask myself. I'm not a coward by any means… and usually I wouldn't have given in to someone so easily, but she was right. I remember watching those old zombie movies throughout my lifetime… How many times had I screamed at the unhearing television as some dumb ass "Survivor" went roaming around for either people or safety in the dumbest of locations? Yeah, I wanted to save people and all, but the chances that whoever went inside that building was alive were slim to none.

As we both sat, lost in thought, neither of us realized Elizabeth's window was rolled down, and neither of us noticed the sound of limping footsteps coming towards the car. The first thing that snapped us out of our own "little worlds" was a heavy thump in my window. Looking over quickly we sat a woman's face glaring in at us, gnashing her teeth as if to bite right through the glass to get to us. "Where the fuck did she come from?" I said when I heard a sudden scream come from beside me. Elizabeth sat writhing around in the seat trying to gain some hope of leverage against the middle aged corpse now attached to her arm. I reached over her and punched the zombie in the face, trying to dislodge his grip, but his jaws were like vices on her arm. About this time a somewhat dampened gunshot rang through the afternoon air and the woman that was trying to eat through my side of the car fell to the ground. Not even looking back to see what had just happened, I tried for my handgun in its holster on my left side. Getting it unlatched I pulled the hammer back on the .38 snub nose revolver; given to me by my father when I turned 21, and aimed it at the thing's head. As soon as the bead was drawn I pulled the trigger and it fell to the ground, pulling a small bit of skin from Elizabeth's wound with it as it fell. The tear of the skin sounding almost as loud as her screams, I gritted my teeth as I jumped out of the car. A voice from behind me began screaming at me to shoot her. I turned around to find a girl, about my age standing behind me. Trying to take the entire situation in, I turned back to Elizabeth, where I soon realized I had drawn a bead instinctively. Knowing what would happen if we tried to "find help" for her, and knowing that I didn't exactly feel like ending up dead… or worse undead… today I gently squeezed the trigger, watching the brain matter, hair, skull, and, spray out exactly opposite of where the bullet entered.

I turned around and got a glimpse of my surroundings, not seeing any unfriendlies anywhere in sight, I aimed my attention to the person who had come, just like the glass-eating zombie, out of nowhere. She was a twenty-something girl, she had olive colored skin, green eyes, and dark brown hair. Even at first glance I knew that this girl was beautiful, but because the situation around me had suddenly gone from intense to "who-the-fuck-are-you?" my mind drifted to the ever-so obvious question. We stared each other down for a minute and I finally broke the silence by saying "Who the fuck are you?… where did you come from?". "Have you been bitten?" She quickly retorted, aiming a revolver back at me. "Really?" I said to her, out of both the ever presence of my never ending sarcasm and sense of humor, along-side actual anger and terror, "Where in the fuck is the film crew? Because this has got to be the most played out zombie situation in the fucking world! No I'm not fucking bitten, but you couldn't of just told me your name? You know, have a fucking conversation? Or along with civilization is conversation a fuckin' zombie too?" I screamed hysterically. Getting the hint that I was losing my shit, she put her gun down, which in any other situation would've probably been a stupid thing to do… but ironically, it made a lot of sense. "My name's Rachel… And do you have a fucking cigarette?" She said to me. Realizing like the first man to discover drugs that god had invented nicotine and that by miraculous chance, I just so happen to have some in my pocket, I fumbled shakily for my cigarettes and lighter.

Pulling out two and lighting her's first, being the gentleman that I am, I inhaled and blew out smoke as I told her my name was Bam. "Where did you come from by chance?" I asked her as I leaned my ass against the side of the car. "I was in the fire station, but as soon as I heard an engine I ran to the door to check it out… I saw the zombie and went to grab my gun… by the time I got back to the door to come outside and warn you, your girlfriend had been bitten. Sorry about that." I inhaled smoke again as I shrugged, "She wasn't my girlfriend… honestly I've never really been entirely fond of her. I mean… I didn't really want to kill her… but right now… I have apparently gone bat shit crazy and don't really care that I have… hell I've done her a kindness honestly… I wouldn't want to come back". She laughed a little and said "I think any of us live ones are bat shit crazy today… and seeing as that the dead are coming to life and eating everbody… I think it might be a good idea for us to get back on the road instead of standing here." I looked at her after taking the last drag off of my cigarette and tossing it "I don't usually pick up hitch hikers…" I said, trying to inject a little humor into the situation as I have a bad problem of doing. "Well… I promise I won't kill you… and I'll only rape you once… well… maybe twice.." Laughing and thanking god that the world still had humor I walked around to the passenger side of the car, I opened the door and pulled Elizabeth out of the car. "Its not exactly a magical fucking pumpkin'… but maybe this'll do for your ride to the prom?" She smiled and stepped around to the car getting in. As I climbed into the driver's seat, I put the key into the ignition and turned it, rolling the window up before doing anything else, and put the car into reverse.

"So where are we headed?" She said to me, as she brushed hair out of her face. Suddenly gripping the reality of the past ten minutes and realizing it had, in fact, it had only been ten or so minutes, I stayed quiet for a while before finally saying, "To McGill avenue… my friend lives there… I'm hoping they're either okay or gone. But after that, I'm trying to head to the rescue set up the military has over at Concord Mills…". Without a hint of humor she said "Aren't those always the worst places to go in these types of movies?" as she just stared out the window. "Yeah, they are… but if there's safety there I intend to get us there. I made a promise to God that I'd save as many people as I could…" She looked over at me, almost baffled, "You don't strike me as the religious type". "I really wasn't until today… I saw something so terrible it made me believe in evil… So I'm assuming from there that if one exists… the other one has to right?" She nodded, apparently pleased with my answer, and continued to stare out the window.

Now driving down 601, onward to 29, and from there to McGill… I continued to think about the last few minutes… and thought about how long those few minutes had seemed. I wondered if they seemed so long because in the new world our time is shorter. I wondered if the promise I was keeping was truly heard by whatever made its bed beyond the sky and stars. I was suddenly taken by surprise when this newcomer in my life, grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Remembering how the warmth of another person felt and how I had missed it, I squeezed back. It was then that a lot of my questions got answered… She didn't take my hand because we were in love, lust, or anything of the sort. It was just the human warmth… the knowledge that not every inch of flesh in the world was cold but hers… the knowledge that the person she now trusted to watch her back, only having known me for a few minutes was real. The connection let us both know we weren't crazy, that the world wasn't ending, and that not **everything** was dead.

We stayed connected and silent for what seemed an eternity. Passing the miles between us and our destination, we saw the burned out shell that everything was becoming. I remember watching The Dark Knight, and hearing Alfred proclaim that "Some men just want to watch the world burn…", and remembered feeling very connected to that quote. Not so much in the way that he meant it, more in a way taken completely out of context. Looking at the destruction around me and feeling almost at home in it, I no longer doubted that I had lost my mind somewhere along this road. But as crazy as this world was… you'd be crazy not to lose your fucking mind.

After passing by the abandoned K-Mart, we came to the crossing of McGill and 29. I turned right and drove onward toward that house by the train tracks. Time suddenly seemed to go from wonderfully slow to dreadfully fast in nothing more than a heart beat, because before I knew it I was staring up at the porch of that duplex by the train tracks where my friend lived. I pulled in behind his truck, and got out of the car. I grabbed my carbine and held it as if I had been trained by the military. Rachel got out of the car right behind me, holding her gun, just as trained-looking as I did.

I walked up stairs and to the right, to the door to Mike's home. Knocking on the door, I called out for them… "Mike! Mama! Bit! NaeNae!… Its Bam! Open up!" After a few minutes I heard heavy footsteps plodding quickly to the door and Mike opened it up. His tear streaked face stared at me through the screen door. I opened the door as quickly as I could asked him where the others were. He walked over to the chair and sat down. "Naebug… She's with her mama… But Mama and Bit man… theyre dead. Mama killed herself this morning… That's what woke me up. Bit… I don't really know what happened to Bit… but I put a bullet in her head just to make sure." At the end of his story, he broke down in tears. Seeing Mike, the Behemoth that he was, crying was the saddest thing you'd ever see. I walked over and hugged him, "Why didn't you leave man? Try and find Nae…" He wiped his eyes and looked at me, "Trucks out of gas, I was trying to figure out what to do… yeah I want to find NaeNae but I won't do much good if I die trying to find her on foot…". "Well you won't have to man… we'll go find her-" But before I could finish my statement, Mike's phone rang. He checked the ID and it was NaeNae's mom. He hurriedly accepted the call and began talking to her… about that time my phone rang too. Looking at the ID on mine I saw it was my mom. I had forgotten about them. I answered the phone as quickly as I could, "Mom, are you guys okay?". No response. I began hearing banging sounds in the background, then I heard my mom crying. "Mom! Answer me!" hearing a sudden crash on the other side and my mom scream, I began to panic. I screamed for my mom, but all I got was screams of terror and pain in return. It was all too clear what was happening. The line suddenly died and my phone read "No Service". Feeling the all too familiar feeling of heart break, I sat down in the chair. I waited patiently for Mike to get done with his phone call. Reaching in my pocket I grabbed my cigarettes. Looking at the pack, I remembered the day my mom found out I smoked. I remember the heart break in her eyes. I began to remember all the times she'd cried over me. I pulled a cigarette out of the pack and lit it. The only thought that ran through my head as the tip of the cigarette glowed and I inhaled the smoke, was Well… What she doesn't know… won't hurt her… I laughed to myself as a single tear fell down my face. The world around me began to fade to gray. I just sat in silence as I watched the smoke curl up to the roof… It was then that I heard rain begin to fall outside, and thunder begin to rattle the windows as it boomed. The weather always did have a funny way of being punctual didn't it? I said to myself.


	10. Chapter 10: People Are Strange

**Chapter 10: People Are Strange.**

As I sat there in what used to be Mama's chair, I couldn't think of anything but what the look on Mama's face probably was when Bit came lunging at her. I hadn't wanted to think about that, but given the current state of the world through my eyes, I wanted to think about anything except for the sounds of carnage coming through the earpiece of my cell phone as my own "Mama" was torn apart by my dad. Rachel was still sitting on one of the boxes that sat beside the TV thinking about whatever had happened to her in the past couple of days, and Mike was still in the kitchen talking to NaeNae's mom. The rain was pouring down hard outside, cleaning the blood off of the asphalt, concrete, grass, and dirt of the surrounding city outside. I sat and listened intently to the downpour, trying to just clear my thoughts of the anarchy that had taken place within so short a length of time.

As I listened to the raindrops hit the window behind me, I heard the all-too familiar sounds of footsteps plodding up the wooden steps outside. Looking over at Rachel, I could see it had gotten her attention too. The sound of the footsteps like gunshots to our ears as they got closer and closer to the door. Each footfall beginning to sound like separated sounds of catastrophe echoing through our ears and bouncing off of the drums inside. It was then that something odd happened. The footsteps stopped in front of the door, and as we expected to hear hands slamming against the door, trying in vain to gain entry, there was a gentle; almost pleasant knock on the door. Our hearts froze as our eyes locked on the door.

No one spoke, inside or outside, but the knocking persisted in sporadic little episodes as if it were a postman trying to rouse someone to the door to sign for a package on any typical normal afternoon. It was about this time Mike came walking into the room. He saw our attention focused on the door and was about to ask us what was going on when he heard the knocking for himself. The knocking went on for a few more minutes when we heard footsteps walk away from the door followed quickly by a sound as if someone were sitting down in the chair to smoke a cigarette.

Mike reached to the stove and grabbed his 50 Cal Desert Eagle and slowly began walking towards the front door. "What the fuck are you doing?" Rachel whispered violently at Mike. "Someone needs help outside, and I'm going to lend a hand." He quickly whispered back, never taking his eyes away from the door. I grabbed my pistol from its holster and got up from the chair. "Not the fuck you're not… Mike did you not hear that weird shit? If they wanted help don't you think they'd have been screaming? I mean it is the Zompocalypse out there, they don't need a phone so they can call the god damned insurance company over a wreck they just got into!" I said, slightly louder than I intended to. He turned around to say something, but then, suddenly we heard hysterical laughter sounding from our unknown on-porch occupant. My eyes widened as my attention shot quickly to the door. Rachel suddenly jumped up and got behind me. Her hands were shaking as they clamed onto my shirt. I turned to her and said, "Rachel… just sit down, we'll be right back. There's nothing to be afraid of, Okay?" She looked up at me and said "There's a fucking psycho out there… who in the fuck would be a serial killer at a time like this? Isn't shit bad enough without Freddy fuckin' Kreuger after us?" I held her hand for a second and told her to stay where she was. I went to walk behind Mike and had to force her to let go of my hand. Mike put his hand on the door as soon as he heard me get behind him, and he opened the front door slowly, keeping the screen door in place so he could get a better look. As we looked outside, we couldn't see the person very well, because there was a garbage bag sitting on a table in our way. "…Fucking really Mike? You leave shit like that in the way at a time like this?". He didn't so much as give me a second glance as he opened the door, gun in hand. I followed right behind him. As we stepped onto the porch and saw the man sitting there, he stopped laughing. He looked up at us and his eyes looked as though he were strung out, which a crack head wouldn't of surprised us any other day, but there was just something off about him. He got up and began walking toward us. He pulled a piece of broken glass out of his pocket and began lunging at us with it. Backing up as fast as we could, Mike was the first to take a shot at him. His shot landed, but it only grazed his neck, whatever was wrong with him, it had something to do with the zombies, we thought, because his appearance and lack of notice to pain made it seem obvious. When Mike finally stumbled to the left, I got a shot, and fired. It went through his head and he fell over. Mike walked over to him first and kicked the glass out of his hand. The skin that had been covered by his sleeve until his sleeve was pushed out of place by his fall, and Mike kicking the glass from his hand, indicated he had been alive before we shot him. It was still a lively pink color, showing that blood still flowed through the body, also he was bleeding from his neck wound and the blood wasn't congealed in the slightest. We both noticed this and quickly looked at each other questioningly.

"He lives down the block from here… I see him in the mornings when I take NaeNae to the bus stop. What the fuck was wrong with him?" Mike asked as he stared back down at the body. "I don't know… think it has something to do with the rain, man?". It was then that it occurred to me that only hours into the entire mess, a website I use a lot for news and random little weird occurrences around the world had said that the entire "new strain of rabies" thing was a lie. That it had all started over a weird atmospheric phenomenon. The black rain was definitely all of the above, so it made some sense. Also in another part of the article it had said the phenomenon had begun as a result of pollution in the already polluted gulf. "Mike, Do you remember the shit I told you about this that website had said?" I asked. "No, not in particular… you're usually full of weird ass information and shit… how in the fuck am I supposed to remember? I don't know if you've noticed but I'm a little preoccupied right now." He quickly retorted. "Well first off, fuck you, secondly, I'm talking about the whole thing about this being linked to the BP gas leak down in the gulf…" I trailed off as my brain continued to connect the dots. "Yeah, I remember something about that, why?" He said. "Well obviously it has to do with the creepy ass fucker we just shot on your front porch. It said that some unmarked boat had been seen, pouring barrels of shit into the water. Coast guard was called, but didn't show up until hours afterwards… a couple days later, the shit hit the fan and people started going crazy…". "Uh huh…" Mike interrupted impatiently, but I paid no mind to it as my thoughts continued to race onward, "…Well… it said that the rain was like… acid rain kind of… only it made whoever was standing out in it go fucking murderously insane. Not many people tested the waters, so-to-speak, when they saw the rain that was falling was black, and luckily; or so it seemed at the time, it takes a little bit for the rain to cause the insanity bit. So if people were able to get into shelter quick enough, they'd be okay. But the problem was the people who got sick from it were attacking other people… and when they scratched and bit people… the result was the victims got sick and died… only to come back from the fucking dead." Mike stared at me, dumbfounded, for a few long seconds until he finally replied. "So what you mean to tell me… is that all that shit was fucking rollin' around in your fuckin' head… and you didn't say something sooner?". "I DID SAY SOMETHING!" I screamed at him, suddenly enraged by his ignorance. "I WAS TALKING THE WHOLE TIME… YOU GUYS JUST WEREN'T LISTENING!". He looked at me as if I'd just offended him by the greatest degree imaginable "Have you ever hung out with you man? All you fucking do is talk about stupid shit! We gotta fuckin filter some of it out or we'd end up killing you!".

Wanting to scream back, but being unable to even deny his accusations made me strike against that thought. I gave him a nod and he nodded back, in our own little ways of apologizing without having to actually say the monotonous words "I'm sorry." We both lit cigarettes and invited Rachel out for one, letting her know the danger had been dealt with. She quickly accepted and bounded outside, thanking us spastically for allowing her to leave the blood-stench that now filled the house. At the time, and still now I look at that moment and watch the irony waft off of that small little episode. She wanted to escape the stench of the house, to come outside and get greeted by the overpowering smells of not only blood, but rot, and many other undesirable stenches let off by the dead. Even with none around currently, the smell of the very atmosphere around us gave us all the impression that the lingering stench wasn't the zombies, but the world dying beneath our feet and all around us. Thinking over all the things that had just happened, yet again in such a small space of time, I began to feel overwhelmed at long last by these very overwhelming circumstances, with the now omnipresent thoughts that abounded the very possibilities if the aforementioned situation was ever proven true. I wondered then if the wierdness ended there, and just kind of leveled out. I wished, and prayed, and begged, and pleaded that it had… But if God listened to a single fucking word of any of it, he gave no sign, other than the fact that he had other plans in mind. And the gears of fate continued to turn and power the virulent-refurbished reality that we now lived through day in and day out. It was now apparent that although these were the end of days… it had all just begun…


	11. Chapter 11: Solo Mission

**Chapter 11: Solo Mission**

As we sat around the living room, none of us saying a word, the rain continued to pour down outside. Rachel sat in the corner chair holding her legs up to her chest and just staring off into the distance of her thoughts. Mike was in the kitchen cooking something since he figured we all should probably eat something. I sat on the ground with my rifle and collection of pistols and continued checking ammunition and doing basic clean up. Things continued on this path until Mike finally came from the kitchen with 3 bowls full of something that neither me nor Rachel really knew what it was, but took anyway. We sat in our own individual areas and ate our food in silence… Silence was becoming all-too familiar to us.

We listened as the rain drops slammed into the windows and watched as the inky liquid ran down the glass in ashy grey lines. The rain suddenly becoming so much of an ambient sound and drawing me out of my linear thinking abilities, I almost didn't notice my phone ringing. Everyone looked over at me, as amazed as I was. "I thought the lines were down…" Mike said, as he stared over at me. "I did too…" I said as I pulled it from my pocket. I looked at the caller ID but didn't recognize the number. Warily, I answered the phone. "Hello?" I inquired as I put the handset to my ear. At first I couldn't hear anything but berated breathing and random white noise. "Hello?" I said again, more forceful this time, hoping the caller would hear me and respond. Luckily, they did. "Bam, Oh my God Bam! I'm scared, Help me-". The white noise interrupted her in mid-sentence. I realized who it was quickly, it was Raquel. A girl, a friend, I'd known since high school. "Raquel, are you okay? Where are you?" I asked frantically after hearing the fear in her voice. "I'm- I'm stuck in K-Mart, I was at work and the rain started… there's things outside… they're not people anymore…-". White noise again interrupted her. "I was about to say her name again, to see if she was still there, when I heard her scream…and the line went dead. She didn't hang up, the line between us just cut us off from each other… the signal had finally crashed.

"What the fuck's going on, man?" Mike asked. I got up from my seat and started getting my guns and ammo ready, heedless of Mike's question. "Bam, what the fuck happened, where are we going?". I finally answered Mike but I continued getting my shit together as I spoke. "We're not going anywhere, you and Rachel stay here where its safe… I'm going to save Raquel.". "By yourself?" Mike asked, baffled by my sudden demeanor. "Yes, by myself. Neither of you know her, so I wouldn't expect you to risk your lives, I however do… she needs help, and I won't leave her out there like this." Mike got up and acted as if he were going to protest to the situation but I shot him a look that, judging by his expression, was enough to make him see that I was serious. "I saw the parking lot of Kmart on our way in, it isn't crawling with them or anything like that, It'll be easier on my own… get in and get out… that fuckin' simple." Rachel suddenly shot up out of her seat and threw her arms around me. "Please, don't go out there. You won't come back!". I could not only hear the hysterics in her voice, but I saw it on her face. I pushed her off of me as gently as I could. "I'll be back. Mike's gonna take care of you.". I began walking to the door when I realized that it was still raining. "Mike… Where's the snorkle? That big ass thick jacket you have.", "Its right there in the pile, man…" I reached into the pile and began moving stuff around until I found it. I put the jacket on and zipped it up, pulling the hood over my head. I walked to the door and looked back at Mike before turning the knob. "When I walk out of this door… you do not open it for anyone but me. And if I sound like I've gone fucking crazy like the dude on the porch, don't even open it for me. Unless you feel so obliged to feed me a bullet." With that I opened the door and walked outside, shutting it behind me.

I ran down the stairs to the car, getting out of the rain as quickly as possible, and jumped in. Starting it, I quickly pulled out of the driveway and out onto McGill. I sped the entire way down the main strip until I got to the intersection. I went straight across and went into the side entrance of Kmart's parking lot and got a good view of the situation. There were a few stragglers but for the most part the parking lot was barren… but it hadn't been what was outside that had made me initially afraid for her. I pulled around the back of the building and found the service entrance. Getting out of the car, I walked cautiously over to the door, keeping an eye out in all directions. I turned the handle and opened the door, stepping inside to the stockroom. The room was eerily silent, and shadows lurked in every corner. I called out for Raquel but received no answer, she wasn't in here… and luckily neither was anything else.

I made my way to the double doors that led into the main area of the store and opened them quietly. About that time I heard Raquel scream again. It was coming from electronics. I picked up speed and ran through the aisles and around all the clothing racks until I finally made it within eyesight of the area the scream came from. I could see Raquel standing behind the small barricade that was set up every night at 9, made up of a few various shelves… and I saw a group of 5 or so people trying to get beyond it and to her. I pulled the rifle out and ran onward, "Raquel, Get down!" I screamed as I pulled the gun up and aimed at the first target. She ducked, and upon hearing me, the ugly bastards turned around. I shot the first one and it fell to the ground. The others screamed in unison and ran towards me. Eyes growing wide with surprise, I began backing up to make room for a clean shot. I shot another one but only in the shoulder, it faltered but kept up its pursuit. Slinging the rifle across my back I pulled my pistols out and began to open fire, just praying I hit one in the right place. Two went down but that still left two lively little bastards sprinting towards me. I shot once more and one of the two went down, but before I could turn and aim for the other, it was right on top of me and tackled me to the ground. I put my hand to its throat, holding its head back, and keeping myself away from its mouth. My guns were knocked from my hands as I was being tackled and I was trying to get a good look and try to locate them. Sadly, they weren't within eyesight. Trying to find leverage so I could turn this fight around, I continued holding the beast away from me. Seeing no other option, I punched it in the face as hard as I could and the force knocked it off balance long enough for me to slam it to the ground.

I grabbed it by its head and began slamming it into the ground until it finally went limp. Trying to catch my breath, I got up and found my pistols. I holstered them and walked over to where she was. I looked behind the counter and she was in the corner shaking. She looked up at me, and I could see she was having a panic attack. I jumped over the counter and sat down beside her. I wanted to calm her down before we left, I needed to get her to safety, and trying to do that with someone in the midst of a mental break down isn't exactly an easy task. We sat there huddled together for a while, until finally she looked over at me. "I can't believe you came…". I looked over at her and said "I told you if you ever needed me I'd be there, didn't I?" She smiled and looked back at the ground. "Look, we need to get out of here… I want to get you to safety. There aren't many outside… but we need to find you a jacket or something to wear… the rain is whats making people sick." She seemed resistant at first to the idea of even moving, but quickly reconsidered as I helped her up. We walked over to the men's section and I grabbed a Carhartt jacket off of a rack. "I know it ain't pretty… but its thick… has a hood and it'll keep you safe…" I helped her put it on and we began walking towards the back. On the way to the double doors, I noticed the hunting section and remembered that this Kmart still sold guns and ammo. I walked over to the gun case and tried to open it. Seeing it was locked, I grabbed my pistol and smashed the glass. I reached in and pulled out a shotgun. "Go ahead and take your pick…" I said to her as I stepped out of the way. She reached in and grabbed a shotgun as well. We went behind the counter and grabbed as much ammo as we could, and walked onward towards the double doors leading us but one step closer to what we would have to settle for as salvation.

The journey to the car was uneventful, I walked around and opened the door for her and helped her get in. Not wanting to give her the idea that I thought she was helpless, but that being completely over-ridden by the drive I had to take care of her. I walked around to my side of the car when the first infected came running around the side. "You know…" I said to myself, "These crazy fuckers are getting on my nerves…". I got into the car and started it. I put it into drive and drove straight into the infected and we both were jostled about in our seats as we drove over it. I drove around the building and towards the exit of the parking lot.

We pulled out onto the road and headed back down McGill toward Mike's house. Neither of us in any way aware of what would be awaiting us when we got there….


	12. Chapter 12: A Way Back In

**Chapter 12: A Way Back In**

As we sped down McGill, I couldn't help but feel extreme foreboding in the midst. I didn't know why but something felt wrong… very wrong. As we made it to the end of the short street and turned on Mike's road, I saw why. His place was crawling with the motherfuckers. They were everywhere. I stopped the car a couple houses down and looked good for signs that they had gotten in… luckily it didn't seem like they had yet… but there presented itself another problem. How in the fuck were we getting in?

I got back into the car and looked over at Raquel, who in turn started laughing hysterically. The laughter of insanity being as contagious as a widespread yawn, I began laughing myself. "Only to us… would this kind of shit happen." I said finally, fits of laughter subsiding. "You ready to use that shotgun you just got, Puppet?". I said looking over to Raquel, who I noticed was loading her shotty, answering my question. At least answering it enough to let me know she wasn't going to kill me or herself with it. Following by her example I began loading mine as well. We were done and getting out of the car before the first zombies had even noticed we were there. "Just pretend we're on Xbox Live… and they're Nazi zombies.. And we should be fine…" I said, cocking the shotgun. "Thank God you don't have grenades…" She said as she loaded a shell. And with that, we opened fire.

Knowing we needed to make every shot count, especially considering we didn't have time to reload these bastards, we made sure that at least one zombie went down with every pull of the trigger. To add some credit to the good half of our luck the zombies were slow, and not the Olympic athletes we'd dealt with inside K-Mart… So backing up to get some breathing room wasn't impossible in this case scenario. Making sure to keep a look out on all sides as best we could, we kept putting them down until we heard the fateful and strangely simultaneous clicks of our guns going empty. I handed Raquel my pistols and I pulled the carbine up and we kept firing. We were slightly less effective this way, considering the very considerable lack of devastating firepower that 40 cal. hollow points lack compared to a shotgun, but we were still getting the job done. The only weird thing was that Mike hadn't reacted in the slightest to hearing gunshots outside. Knowing Mike wasn't the type to actually listen to me when I told them to stay inside no matter what, that told me something was wrong. By the time our clips emptied, there were only a few stragglers left. I made quick work of them, just kind of pushing them over to get them out of the way. We got up to the door and I knocked and screamed for them to let us in. "Its still unlocked!" a voice called from inside… a female voice. It was Rachel and she didn't sound good. I opened the door and led Raquel inside, letting her sit down and relax while I attended the situation. It was strange… despite the fact that Rachel was apparently bleeding all over the fucking place, you could still cut the tension with a knife when a new female was introduced to her environment… it was like watching Animal Planet or something. By the time I got down into the floor, Mike was walking in with a small med kit.

As he made his way in, I lifted Rachel's sleeve and instantly saw the problem… she had been bitten. I must've dropped the ball on the entire "keeping a cool head" idea, because she instantly noted on the fact that I looked freaked out. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" She asked, with obvious worry tinged to her slurred speech. Ignoring her question, I directed my attention to Mike. "What the fuck happened, Bro?". He wouldn't meet my gaze, but continued pulling out the contents of the med kit as he spoke. "I went to the bathroom and she thought it'd be a good idea to step outside and smoke… I came running out when I heard her scream… My neighbor snuck up on her.". I grabbed the bottle of alcohol and told him to hold her down as I poured it over the bite. She bucked and tried to scream, but Mike held her mouth shut. "That explains this… but what about the fucking house party list of other zombies me and Raquel just had to fucking kill to get the fuck inside? Where did they come from?" I asked as we continued to work. I took the gauze and medical tape from him and began wrapping the wound. He didn't answer my question in words, but the look he gave me told me he had no idea that more had shown up. "You mean to tell me that fucking 45 zombies can show up on your doorstep and you haven't even so much as heard them groan?". They must've shown up quick… I just got her back inside not even 20 minutes ago. I finished the bandaging job and looked up at Rachel's face… she was fading fast. "You know that what we just did… didn't even buy us time… she's done man." I said, as I looked over at him. "Yeah… I know." He said. "Give me your gun… you and Raquel step into the kitchen… I'll do it myself." I said, as I sat and stared at the bandages I had just applied… watching as the blood slowed its flow but still steadily soaked through. "No disrespect meant man… I just figure it's the right thing to do… she saved my life… least I can do is send her on to a better one. Raquel's already seen too much bad shit today man… and so have you… go on in the kitchen. You guys get to know each other… and don't come out until I tell you to.". Mike nodded his head, handed me his pistol, and walked into the kitchen, with Raquel right behind him. "Bam… everything's fading… whats happening to me?" Rachel said to me… grabbing my arm as I tried to stand up. She had an almost child-like sound to her voice. "You're just tired… you've had a tough day. Just try and relax, okay? I'm right here.". I felt her grip loosen and I took the chance to walk over to the couch to grab a couple pillows. One so she could at least die comfortably… the other was an old trick I learned from my grandpa after his years of running with the Hell's Angel's… they make a quick and easy silencer.

I laid one pillow under her head and helped her lay down. Unlike in the movies… she didn't say much else. She tossed and turned for a little while… and finally lay still. I picked the pillow up and put it up to the side of her head. "I'm sorry about this." I said as I pressed the barrel into the pillow and pulled the trigger. A slight muffled boom sounded inside the house, but I doubt if it would've even been heard on the front porch… so no worries of any unfriendlies hearing the shot. I sat there for a minute before I so much as breathed. I yelled for Mike as I pulled a cigarette out of the pack. "We'll be smoking inside from now on… that alright?" I said. "God damn right that's okay… I told her not to go outside… that was her shit man… not mine… I still hate what happened. I'm sorry.". I inhaled my first hit and blew it out. "Don't be man… In today's fucked up world… this shit happens constantly… otherwise we wouldn't be having so much of a problem now… would we?" I asked as I handed him a cigarette. He took the cigarette and lit it. Raquel took a queue from us, and lit one of her own. I'd of offered one… but I knew she didn't smoke menthol.

"So how was it out there?" Mike finally said through a veil of smoke. "Obviously safer than here I guess, huh?" The quip caught me off guard and caused me to cough. Raquel laughed, and then Mike started laughing, and soon after that, my coughs turned to laughter. Mike and I moved Rachel's body outside and placed a blanket over her. The few zombies that had been left outside earlier were gone now. But we still took no chances. As soon as we got in, we began duct taping the windows, leaving only small peek holes to see through. Given that we didn't have unlimited resources it was the best we could do, and ironically, seemed to be the best course of action. The windows wouldn't shatter because of the dead fucks banging on them, and even if they did break through, it wouldn't be as easy as just sticking their hands straight through, there would be plenty of resistance, and we'd hear it hopefully.

It had definitely become a mad world out there. If there were ever a dream of anarchy in its purest form, it was as simple as taking a look out the window now. Thinking about it then, I wondered how the "rescue station" out at the Mills was holding up. I wondered if it had been overthrown as easily as they had been in the old Dawn of the Dead and every other movie I'd seen like it. I wondered if, since so many of Romero's rules were already broken, how many more would be broken even by the end of the day. Daylight was fading fast, so I hoped that maybe I… I mean we would be spared the answer to that question, at least until tomorrow. We all needed rest… sadly though… There's no rest wicked…


	13. Chapter 13: Visitors

**Chapter 13: Visitors**

I opened my eyes to a still dark house. No light shined through the small peep holes left in the windows so I figured it had to be early morning. Checking my phone's clock confirmed it was, in fact 3:00 AM. I looked over beside me to find that Raquel was still sleeping, and Mike was as well. After laying there for a while and realizing sleep was not in my immediate future I got up and walked over to the window to take a peek outside. I pulled out a cigarette and lit it as I looked outside at the darkened streets.

Upon looking outside and seeing the strangely vacant and mostly unchanged scenery beyond the yard, It reminded me of all the nights Rusty, Mike, and I had sat in this very driveway smoking weed and telling stupid stories and jokes. The nostalgia filled moment made me realize all the things that would probably never happen again. It made me suddenly miss when things were normal. It was then, that for the first time in what seemed like forever, I felt that familiar pain of heart ache fill up my chest cavity.

With every hit of the cigarette I took, it just continued to remind me of times now long gone. Finally out of frustration I put the cigarette out. I suddenly noticed Raquel shifting around on the couch and walked over to pull the blanket back up over her. It occurred to me that she was probably just having a nightmare, but sadly if I would've woke her from it, she would've only awoke to a world full of real life nightmares. She needed her rest. Once the blanket was pulled up again, she seemed to calm a little bit so I walked into the kitchen to check the radio Mike had found not long before we had gone to sleep.

Running all of the channels from FM to AM I found nothing broadcasting, and it didn't do much for my already dampened mood. I walked over to the fridge and was about to open it when I heard the familiar but far off sound of a Harley engine. As I listened harder, I noticed it wasn't just one… but quite a few. I ran over to the door in time to see a large group of bikers heading our way, down the main drag of McGill. I waited until they turned onto our road before I decided to make any "wake up the team" decisions. They not only pulled onto our road, but stopped directly in front of the house. "Fuck!" I said to myself as I rushed from the window to wake Mike up. "Mike!" I screamed at him, to which his response was a sleepy "Fuck off." I shook him hard, "Mike wake the fuck up! We're in fucking trouble, man! Don't make me punch you in the fuckin' dick!". With that he got up quickly, "What the fuck is going on?". "There's a group of fuckin' bikers outside. It doesn't look like they're here to make friends. They're all Riders of the Apocalypse.". He stared at me for a second before it sank in who I was talking about. "You mean the bastards that jumped us up at the bar that night? How the fuck do they know I live here?" He asked. "I don't know if they do, but considering the yard is full of shell casings and dead zombies… Oh and two cars are parked outside… we're the only fucking lively looking house on the block man!". He sat there for a minute before he responded. "Load your guns… I'll get Raquel up and explain whats going on… load our guns too. We're not going down without a fuckin' fight." I ran over to the duffle bag and pulled out the best guns we had and started loading them. Mike woke Raquel up and told her what was going on. She seemed worried about it, but okay with the idea of helping us out if the need arose.

It took a total of 5 minutes to load the guns and clips. I put on the web gear I had stolen from the Army Surplus store and started loading myself up. Mike, being the genius that he is, had found his old web gear from the marines and luckily had a few sets. I helped Raquel into hers and showed her where all of her shit was. When I was done with that, we began discussing our plan of action. We decided to go out the back and sneak around the side of the house so that we could get the drop on them. If they cared about survival, we weren't giving them a chance to fire first. We would hold them at gun point until they told us what they wanted, Mike had dibs on the fucker in the VP vest, while I would draw a bead on the President. Raquel would stay hidden and watch our backs, if shit were to hit the fan, and help wasn't an option, she was to run and find a car.

We walked out the back door and down the stairs as quietly as possible and snuck around the house. As soon as they were within eye sight, I aimed my gun at the President's head and called out to them "What the fuck do you guys want?". The bikers snickered at us and the President put his hands up in mock surrender. "We're just here to make… friends. Why do you need the gun on us?". "I guess the same fucking reason your fucking fat ass friend back there is aiming his at me." I retorted. Being that I grew up around these types, I knew trusting a god damned word they said wasn't an option. "Son…" The older fat man holding the gun towards me said, "I think its best you hand over your shit before this situation gets out of hand.". "Fuck off, before I put a whole in your big ass face." I replied. Just about that time, the VP pulled his trigger and the bullet tore through my shoulder. As soon as the bullet left the gun, Mike fired back from his position behind the neighbor's house. He caught the VP in the head and from that point on, war was upon us. I jumped back around the corner to check the wound. It had gone straight through and wasn't bleeding terribly, I figured it didn't catch any major arteries and used the adrenaline to fight back. I aimed quick and shot the fat guy in the throat. The VP and elder members were both dead, which left the President and one other guy. Raquel came out of the shadows, brandishing her shotgun. Because she went around the other side of the house, they didn't see her coming. She snuck up behind them and shot the guy beside the President in the back of the head. The president turned around but before he could fire, I shot him in the arm. He dropped his gun, and another bullet tore through his leg. We quickly strode over to him and turned him over on his back. We looked down at his face as he suddenly realized who we were.

He started stammering, trying his luck at speech. But his fear over-rode his fuckin' lips. "I see you remember us now, eh?" I said to him, Putting my foot on his chest. "Payback's a fucking bitch… do you remember those words? Did you think we wouldn't find you? Well, you're right… we didn't find you. You found us. Now… hand over your shit or I'll kill you where you fucking lay." He began to take off his vest but I stomped his chest, knocking him back to the ground. "No, you lived by that vest and you will die by that fucking vest. Now get up.". He slowly stood up, barely able to steady himself. "Now… I think it's rather obvious that you don't have to hand shit over… Its in the street now and ours for the taking.", I grabbed his shirt and pulled his face to mine. "You look in my fucking eyes… and you tell me one god damned reason why I shouldn't waste you right here and fucking now.". The stammering continued, "Please don't kill me…" he begged. I ripped the President patch off of his vest. "The vest you will die with… but you don't deserve to be a presidential corpse. Get down on your fucking knees and beg God for forgiveness. Forgiveness for all the bad shit that you and the rest of these evil fucking bastards have done. All the woman you've raped and the children you've killed.". Crying now… he got down on his knees and began praying, and begging at the same time. I walked around to his back and pulled my pistol out. Mike stood beside me, and Raquel on the other side. We all aimed at his head, and pulled the triggers. He fell to the ground. Mike and I started picking up their weapons and gear. Raquel just stared down at the man's corpse. "What did we do?". Seeing the look of guilt in her eyes, I walked over to her and looked her in the eyes while I spoke. "What we did here was a necessary evil. These bastards raped and sold women, sold drugs to kids, and killed anyone who got in their way. This had to be done.". She nodded in understanding, but I could see she was still struggling with it. Not knowing what else to say I gave her a hug, and walked over to help Mike finish cleaning up the mess. They had been in the midst of raiding the cars and upon closer examination, we saw that the tires had been slashed. Our plans to leave would have to be abandoned for the time being, but we would figure it out when day break came.

We sat down in the living room and checked inventory on what we had gotten. I grabbed the med kit and cleaned the wound, having Mike help me bandage it. I sat down on the couch beside Raquel and put my arm around her. She was still upset, and I didn't know what else to do. I knew it probably wouldn't do much to comfort her, but it was all I could think to do. She relaxed after a little while and finally fell asleep again. Mike soon passed out as well. I just sat there, staring at the walls, knowing sleep wouldn't be coming any time soon. I wondered what had gotten into me out there… I knew Mike wondered the same thing and Raquel probably did too. I wish I could answer it but I still am not sure what happened. Maybe remembering how they had all jumped Mike that night at the bar… or maybe it had to do with their life choices. Either way, the heart ache I had felt earlier came back hard. I lit a cigarette and inhaled the smoke. I knew that nothing could fill the void I felt, and I had given up on trying to psychoanalyze myself. I just sat there and inhaled the smoke until the last hit remained and it was snuffed out. Zombies and Psychos were now our world's inhabitants… this was shaping up to be quite the experience.


	14. Chapter 14: Healing Wounds

**Chapter 14: Healing wounds**

Eventually I found myself able to sleep. Occasionally I would feel Raquel move around beside me within the throes of whatever world lay beyond her wall of sleep. Every now and then I found myself waking up to check on her, but inevitably I succumbed to the comforts and subsequent terrors of sleep. I dreamed of monsters and mad men. I dreamed of terrible creatures crawling their ways out of the ground. But above all, I dreamt of everything I had lost along the way… It was that, which caused me to awake almost in a scream. I jolted up from sleep suddenly, and I startled Raquel from her sleep as well. "What's going on?" She asked… squinting through obviously squinting eyes. "Its nothing… just go on back to sleep. Everything's okay." I said, soothing her back into her slumber. I sat there for what seemed like hours before sleep finally overtook me again. Sadly the nightmares continued on throughout the night.

We all woke up around 9 or 10 in the morning. We judged it by the light outside, our phones had all died at some point in the night and considering the electricity went out quite a while ago… there was no way of charging them. We ate breakfast and Mike checked out my bullet wound, making sure it hadn't become infected. Everything looked fine according to him, but I still made the point to douse the wound in alcohol again to be sure. We cleaned it up and re-bandaged it before we began talking of our plans to finally leave.

We sat around the living room thinking of where we should go. It was obvious that the cars weren't moving, and all that we had to use really were the bikes. We took a walk out into the yard to check the damages and see what we had to work with. One of the bikes was riddled with bullet holes and rendered useless, and another one looked fine but when we tried to start it, the engine wouldn't turn. But the other two worked fine from what we saw. There were leather saddlebags on both bikes and despite mine and Mike's disdain for them under usual circumstances, we saw them as a godsend considering all the shit we would need on our trip. We had finally decided upon trying to make it to the Mills rescue station.

We went back inside to pull our things together… the things we definitely needed anyway, and we each took a shower before heading out. The water was cold as ice, but got us clean nonetheless. Although showering was a plus, the shitty side was that we had no clean clothes. Mike had been doing laundry before the shit hit the fan and had forgotten about it. When we checked on them the clothes were mildewed from sitting in water for so long. So we mutually decided to make a run by K-Mart again if circumstances allowed, and pick up a few changes of clothes. Mike was going to carry a backpack with our clothes and some supplies, while Raquel and I would ride on the other bike. Web gear and weapons equipped, we walked on outside into the bright sunny day that cast its rays down upon us. We got on our bikes, started them and headed on down the road.

As we road down McGill for what seemed like the thousandth time in a two day span, we paid close attention to our surroundings. Being that we didn't have the security that came with a closed in vehicle, we didn't want to get snatched by a runner or anything unpleasant like that. As we neared K-Mart, we saw that the place was utterly deserted. I guess since Raquel was no longer inside, they had no interest in entering an empty building. Sure there were a few slow movers here and there, but we could be in and out in no time. They wouldn't be a worry.

We pulled into the parking lot again, I motioned for Mike to follow me around the building so we could enter the same way I had gotten in last time. We pulled around back and I instantly saw the now decaying corpse of the infected man I had hit on my vigilante run to save Raquel. He hadn't moved since he landed on the concrete, he just lay still, broken and bloody. We got off the bikes and walked through the service entrance and into the warehouse within.

As we walked through, I began hearing the tell-tale moans of zombies somewhere within the building. "Keep your eyes open… they're in there somewhere. Just grab some clothes and shit… and we'll get the fuck out of dodge, alright?". They both nodded in agreement as we walked onward. As we exited the double doors, we came upon the toy aisle. Mike stopped for a second… "Since we're going to the Mills… I want to get NaeNae a toy… I think it'd be nice to give her something, you know?". I smiled and nodded. Mike looked scantily through the doll aisle until he came across a baby doll. He picked it up, showed it to me, and put it in his book bag.

We walked on through the aisles, and as we did, we passed the baby clothes. I could feel the all too familiar heart ache coming back as I looked at all the clothes I remember fawning over when he… when he was younger. I quickly turned my gaze away, trying to stop the bad feelings before they could consume me… but the thing they don't tell you going into fatherhood is that your love for your son… is always all consuming.

We luckily made it quickly to the women's clothes and Raquel quickly began looking around for something decent to wear. We walked around the section with her for seemingly hours, "Damn… even in the midst of the apocalypse women are still fucking indecisive eh?" Mike said. "Fuck you, man… I don't give a fuck what it is out there… I still wanna look good." She quickly retorted with a grin. I laughed as I listened to their childish bickering, and focused my attention on it. I didn't want to let my mind wander any more than I had to. It was a beautiful thing to see either way… smiling… laughter. Genuine smiling and laughter at that. It was enough to help you realize… Hell.. Maybe the end of the world isn't so bad after all.

Raquel finally settled on something to wear and we walked with her to the changing rooms and made sure no creepy-crawlies would come out and bite her in the ass or anything. We waited for her to change before we went and grabbed clothes for ourselves. As we made it over to the men's clothes, Mike and I made quick decisions on what we would wear and walked back over to the changing rooms. We went in one at a time so no one would have to keep watch alone. Whoever was in the dressing room at least had walls separating them from outside danger. The watchmen however didn't have that perk.

We threw our old clothes aside and walked on back towards the hunting section. We decided to grab a few more guns and some ammo before finally making our trek out to the Mills… Way we figured it was… with the world gone mad… you can never have too many bullets. Realizing suddenly that my clothes were missing something, I told Raquel and Mike I'd be back in a minute and ran over to the housing supply section. I came back with some cans of spray paint and threw a few over to Mike. He got the idea as soon as he saw what it was. We walked over to the coats and we both grabbed a leather jacket. I pulled out my knife and cut my sleeves off, letting Mike do the same. We put them on the ground and began going to work on them. Raquel just stood there, still confused by what the fuck we were doing, until she saw the big red anarchy symbols now emblazoned on the backs of each vest. She just stared and simply said…"Fuck that… make me one too." We grabbed one for her and did the same.

We had been having so much fun in K-Mart just being stupid, we almost forgot what awaited us outside. Sadly we didn't forget for long. We opened the door to the small alley behind K-Mart where our bikes still sat and low and behold… a wall of zombies was headed our way from the other side of the building. We loaded up quick and jumped on our bikes, trying our best to speed away before they could catch up. Just as we thought we were going to lose them, a couple of sprinters dashed to the front. We sped up and made it around the turn, only to find that more of them were trying to cut us off down across the parking lot. I felt Raquel squeeze tighter onto me as she saw what was coming. Knowing we had only seconds to make a decision I looked around and saw that we had a clear spot over towards the gas station. If we drove fast enough they wouldn't close us in. "Hang on puppet…" I told Raquel, "This is gonna suck…". I pointed Mike in the direction we were headed and sped off towards the opening. We raced along and the hole we intended to escape through began to grow smaller as the hordes started closing in. I shifted the gear and picked up speed, Mike steadily coming up behind me. We were now only feet away from our escape when I realized we would have to make a sharp turn, otherwise we were going to jump the embankment. The entire purpose behind this was not to die, so that wasn't an option. But I saw that there was plenty of area behind the zombies after we cleared the gap that we could drive through and out onto the highway… I just hoped Mike knew the same.

As we crossed the gap, I could smell their hot breath on me as they tried to bring their fetid teeth closer to us. I swerved to the right and down the entranceway towards the highway. I turned around just in time to see Mike do the same. Feeling a sudden pang of relief for my friend, we drove out onto the highway and towards the intersection that would eventually lead us to Concord Mills. We all understood we had to leave the fun behind us and enjoy the little things while we had them. We all had the feeling that things were about to get fucking crazy… or crazier at least. Despite the fact that none of us were looking forward to what we might find once we got there, we drove on… hoping and praying we'd find salvation.


	15. Chapter 15: Road to Salvation?

**Chapter 15: Road to Salvation?**

We got to the intersection of Cabarrus Avenue and 29 not too long after we left K-Mart. Raquel's death grip still hadn't lightened up any, and knowing how bad all that had freaked her out; because hell… it freaked us the fuck out, I said nothing to her. The tension it was causing was pulling the vest against the bullet wound and it was beginning to hurt like a bitch, but until it became a real problem I wasn't taking away anything that was potentially helping her feel better. We slowed as we neared the intersection and stopped for a second. "So I guess we're gonna take Cabarrus over to the other side of 29 and to the Mills, right?" Mike asked over the loud rumble of our engines. "That's the plan… Unless you've got a better one.". He shook his head and said "Nope.. Sounds like a plan to me bro.". With that we headed right and drove on down the road.

We passed by all the businesses that used to liven the area up and saw that they were all showing signs of surrender in their own special ways. Some were boarded up, but broken into, by zombies or people… we couldn't tell which. Some had burned to the ground while others were still ablaze. After a thoughtful moment, I concluded this was probably the work of the bastards we wasted back at the house. As we rode onward, my suspicions were shown to be founded as we rode by the car lot and their gay fucking name was tagged all over the fuckin' joint.

We continued on past the car lot and into the area that used to greet us with the smell of coffee from the S&D Coffee factory, but since the factory had closed its doors, all that greeted us was the now familiar smell of blood and rot. From where we were we could look down 29 and see over a mile ahead of us and we were all surprised and amazed that we couldn't see any zombies. None. We drove on with an ominous feeling hanging over our heads until we passed the Wal-Mart and saw where they all were. Seemingly thousands of them stood milling around in the parking lot and banging on the doors trying to get in. I felt my heart leap into my throat as I saw the shear number of them. We didn't stop, we didn't even slow… in fact we sped up as we drove on so we could get past the scene as quickly as possible. Especially before any of them saw us.

We continued riding on, paranoia nipping at our heels as we expected the fucking horde to have seen us and be chasing us as we rode, but strangely enough, they weren't. That information was to no avail because we all still felt terrified that they would pop up out of nowhere. Outside of that "little" scene, though… Not much else transpired on the drive which struck me as odd. We were on a major highway and there were no pile-ups, no wrecks, no people (alive or dead)… It was just a quiet road leading us to what was seeming less and less like salvation by the minute. Color me paranoid, but I felt something wasn't right. It wasn't until we could see the Lowe's Motor Speedway looming above us that we saw any signs of even a military presence. Problem was, it wasn't much of a presence. The post was set up, sandbag walls with a 50 cal. Turret and a couple of vehicles, but there were no soldiers. We pulled up beside the post and stopped, getting off the bikes to check it out. M14 Carbines laid scattered on the ground, seemingly dropped in haste. Mike and I both picked one up and checked the ammo. Mine had a full clip almost while Mike's was almost empty. We walked over to the Humvee to check it for ammo and we found our first soldier. It was a woman, sitting in the driver's seat facing out the windshield, and she had a single bullet wound in her head. I checked her dog tag and read her name. "Lieutenant Baker" I said aloud. I brushed my hand over her eyes to close them, and again felt that sinking feeling in my chest.

After searching the vehicle, we came up with quite a few magazines for our M14s, and a few 9mm clips which Mike gave to Raquel after handing her his secondary pistol. "Hey, think we should take the Hummer?" I said to Mike as I closed the back door. "No. Look at the tires man." he said, nodding towards the wheels. The tires were slashed. "What the hell? Mike, Bam.. The other trucks are like that too." Raquel pointed out to us. We checked where she was pointing, and low and behold… all the vehicles were fucked. Also upon a quick check, we found the other soldiers laying dead in the road behind one of the larger trucks. They were all in a line and laying face down with bullet holes in the backs of their heads. "Shit…" I said after taking stock of the situation. "Thinking the bikers did this?" Mike asked. "No… not them. There isn't enough of them to have done this. They wouldn't of stood a chance against these soldiers man. Not even if the entire chapter had shown up..". "You have a point… but then what in the fuck happened to these people… Oh my god… Bro…" Mike had stopped mid-sentence and directed my attention to where his gaze was. A soldier had been crucified on metal cross beams that were stuck into the ground. This soldier wasn't dead though, not completely anyway. He wiggled around, gnashing his teeth at us, trying to free himself from his bonds to get at us. "This doesn't make any sense man… What the fuck is going on here?" I asked. We all walked over to where the soldier was and looked up at him. We stood there for a moment, in awe of what we were seeing, which wasn't just this poor bastard. The entire rest of the platoon had been displayed in some grisly way or another. Some were undead and moving around in whatever restraints held them captive, but most were decapitated and their heads were found shoved onto posts and stuck in the ground. "I can't believe what the hell I'm seeing…" Raquel said, in obvious awe at what surrounded us. Not wanting to stay any longer than we had to, we walked back to our bikes and drove on past the military outpost.

We drove the roads which eventually led us to the main highway that Concord Mills sat on and saw more of the same, except now it wasn't just soldiers. Crosses and other contraptions lined the roads to Concord Mills, all with poor souls still strapped in tightly to them. The only change in scenery we saw before turning into the mall was a giant sign, written out of someone's, if not multiple someones', intestines nailed to multiple pieces of plywood which stated "God Has No Place Here, Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter". We drove into the parking lot and found it mostly empty. We drove up to the main entrance of the mall and that was when we saw the most horrific thing we had seen yet. A small child had been nailed down, sitting on the wooden bench. Someone had given him a Glasgow smile and his mouth hung open wide. His hands and legs were nailed down and his head fell somewhat backwardly so we saw he not only had the smile, but had a stab wound in the middle of his forehead. My heart broke as I beheld the sight before us. I couldn't understand how anyone could do this to a child. It made me wonder what kind of forces we were reckoning with. It made me seethe. I felt my blood begin to boil with hatred as I looked at him. I turned my bike off and pulled my M14 up. I never said a word. "Where are you going?" Mike asked me, but he knew exactly where I was going. He knew exactly what I was thinking. Raquel quickly turned to Mike as he began to get his shit together. He nodded to her, letting her know they would follow me in. She grabbed her shot gun and slung it over her back and pulled the pistol out. Within a matter of seconds they were following behind me. The non-automatic doors were all locked so I walked over to the automatic one, slid my machete into the slit and pried it open.

As we stepped inside, we saw that the main area of the food court was empty. Uneaten food sat rotting on plates all over the tables and the smell was almost over powering. It was then that I caught the sound of movement over to our left, in the Forever 21 boutique. I quickly drew my weapon up and signaled for us to all move in quietly. We walked through the doors with almost military-esque finesse, keeping a close eye on our footing to make sure we didn't knock anything over and alarm whoever was inside. Once we passed the registers, we saw him over in the back corner. I snuck up behind him and bashed him in the back of the head with the gun. He fell to the ground with a yelp. I rolled him over on his back and aimed the gun directly into his face. He opened his eyes wide with surprise and put his hands up, "Oh God I'm sorry, please don't kill me!" he begged. "Shut the fuck up!" I whispered harshly. "What the fuck happened here?" He looked around shakily, almost paranoid. "I can't tell you that… They'll kill me.". "Motherfucker, I'll kill you… you fucking tell me… are you one of the people who slaughtered all those innocents outside?" He began to cry, making it obvious that he was one of them. "I promise I won't do nothin' to nobody anymore… please let me go." He continued to beg. "Shut your fucking mouth unless you're answering my god damned question. But since your fuckin' pathetic sniveling already did that, its time for my next question. Where the fuck are the rest of them… and if you lie to me I will cut your fucking dick off and feed it to you." He started laughing, "What is this an action movie?… you wouldn't do that." I grabbed Mike and brought him over. "Mike, you keep your bead drawn on this fucker's head. Don't let him so much as fucking twitch…". I pulled out my machete which brought out the 'Oh Shit' look. I unzipped his pants and was acting like I'd snatch his dick out when he started begging me not to. "Then you fucking tell us where they are. We don't want any fucking surprises.". "They're probably in the Bass Pro Shop place… but there's lots of 'em.. And not all of em's in there! You won't be able to find 'em all! They'll kill you first! Any you'd better not kill me! Cuz they'll come lookin' for you! They'll notice I'm gone here soon!". I spit in his face and said, "I'm counting on it." I got up and grabbed him by his hair, swinging the machete at his neck. After a few swings it finally came free. I brought it over to the registers and slammed it down onto the counter.

It was judgment day. It was time for these sick bastards to pay for what they had done. Not one of them was going to make it out alive. We would make sure of it. Concord Mills was going to be cleansed by the blood of the wicked, and we would be the ones to carry it out. Hunting season had just begun.


	16. Chapter 16: Hunting Season

**Chapter 16: Hunting Season.**

We sat in the store next to Forever 21 for about 20 minutes before we heard the sounds we were waiting for: Fuckbag's fellow cronies had come looking for them, then just for added fun… the shock in their voices as they found the little present waiting for them on the counter. We quickly but quietly made our way from the store and ambushed them from behind. I used my machete, while Mike used a piece of rebar he had found whilst investigating the store we were in. Raquel stood guard at the front of the store with her shot gun, out of the line of sight of anyone coming up from the right or left. If anyone were to come, her main focus was to let us know, because we didn't want to alert them to our existence. Right now we had the element of surprise on our side, if that were to change… so could the outcome of our current venture. There were three of them, that came in looking for their friend, they were easy enough to take care of. Problems didn't arise until we heard the crackle of a walkie-talkie in one of their pockets. We didn't search for it because the words pouring through told us that we needed to advance, otherwise we would get flooded. They were aware people in their group were missing and not answering calls, and were therefore sending forth patrolling "officers" to find out what events had unfolded.

We took the magazines from the fallen men's rifles and stuffed them in our pockets before moving on. We took a direct approach by going the route towards Bass Pro Shop that held such glorious treasures as Books A Million and whatnot. We kept a keen eye out on our surroundings and we stuck to the shadows. Most of the lights in the mall were out because of the power grid failure but the mall also had emergency back up generators which kept some of the lights on, for example main lighting within some of the stores. We didn't come across anyone until we were about 100 yards down the hallway. We kept quiet until the two patrolmen were right on us and then we attacked. We executed them the same way we had their friends: Decapitation.

After their heads had begun to roll down the handicap ramp in between the stair cases, we continued on down the path. We met a couple more patrolmen and dealt the same fate to them. The closer we got to Bass Pro… the more obvious the sadistic nature of this group became. Women and children's bodies littered the area in the visages of some long lost grotesque form of art: Bodies beaten, broken, and bloodied and wired to poles and framework in macabre imagery. The men however were all hanged upside down and gutted. We even came across a store that the sign had been spray painted over, what was once a small board game shop was now "The Marinating Chamber". We looked inside and found no one but one man alive… and this poor man had suffered a terrible fate. He had been cut from pubic hair to chest hair and his intestines and otherwise connected innards hung from precariously placed small cloth hammocks above the ground. The main was in an obvious state of shock and no one could blame him. He was staring at his organs as they hung about right in front of him. It was something that if you'd have told me about only days ago… I would have told you it was impossible.

I didn't know what to do for the man, though I knew what I wanted to do. I walked over to him and whispered to him, "We'll be back… we're going to take care of this…". The man's delirious eyes suddenly began to search the darkness around him and he feverishly began to whisper, "Where's my son?… they took my son… can you find my son?". "Of course we will…" I said with slight hesitation. I wanted to help this man, but the chances his son was still alive were Slim to fuck no. I bade him farewell and we continued on, revenge being our armor.

It was about ten minutes after the encounter with the poor man that we finally came upon the doors of Bass Pro. Raquel and I stood guard as Mike put his ear to the door. "They're in there…" He said as he came away from it. "Where do we go from here?" Mike asked me. "We go in and we take those fuckers out. This place was our only salvation… they took that from us. They took that from everyone. They'll pay for it." I opened the door as quietly as possible and we all walked in. As we walked in, Mike and Raquel hid behind a wall to our left, and I opened fire before joining them. The lot of them screamed as the gun sounded, some from surprise, some from bullet wounds. I ducked behind the wall and listened intently to the enemy. I told Mike and Raquel to go find somewhere else to attack from, we shouldn't all be in one place. With that, they moved off into the darkness. It was then that we were all surprised. The leader spoke up. "Cease fire! I repeat cease fire! Both parties!… You… the guy who interrupted this humble meeting. What have you come for?". "Its quite simple really… I've come to kill you." I yelled back. "There's one of you… there's an army of us… we're military trained. You don't have much chance of walking out of this alive. Let me make you an offer.". "I don't make deals with the devil you sick son of a bitch!" I yelled. "I will kill every one of you, or I will die trying..". He considered this for a minute before responding. "You sneaky little bastard! We'll kill you slow when we get you! You'll make a fine fucking meal!". "If you kill me, that's your right…" I said, "There's enough to go around… but let me ask you something.". "And what's that?" he quickly asked. "How fast can all of you run?". "We are militarily trained, I assure you, you won't escape us you fat bastard!". "Point taken. I guess the better question is this: Can you run faster than a bullet?". With that, Mike fired. Striking the man next to the leader in the throat. It was that gun blast that set everything off.

Every feeling, every emotion, and every soul was suddenly aflame when called forth within the hails of gunfire. Mike had apparently found a spot above the group and was firing down on them. Raquel was firing from behind a shelving section, and I opened fire from my little haven. The sudden gunfire from other directions stunned the tribe of cannibals which made for easy killing for the three of us. We had killed over half of the platoon before they decided to try and flee. I jumped out before they could and shot the leader in the leg. The others left him behind and fled out of the back door. I ran from my position and over to the leader, who lay on the ground clutching his injured leg. I quickly ran out, still firing at the fleeing members as they escaped. I made it to their leader and grabbed him by the hair. I was pulling out my machete when he began his first round of begging. "Please don't kill me. We could trade something. I'll give you anything you want for my life.". I looked at him for a minute, "Nope… your life'll do just fine." He began to beg again which I responded to with, "Look, did you take part in all the wonderful fuckin' artwork hanging around all over this place?". "No…" He said as he struggled to sit up. "That was my men… they went crazy, how was I to stop them? I'm just one man.". "Because they're you're fucking men. You had just as much to do with it as they did. You ate your victims with them, did you not?.". "Only because there was nothing else.". "Motherfucker, the world only ended a few days ago… trust me, there's plenty of other food out there. You did this because you're a sick fuck. The rest of them will be dealt with, all I have here right now though, is you.". He began to laugh. "Now if you want to keep begging me for your life… you go right ahead…" I began, and then grabbed him by the throat which staunched the laughter, "I love to hear it… but if you think for one second I would let you live after finding that little boy outside on the bench… you're a fucking idiot… I, as a father, cannot in good conscience let you live.". It was then that he said something I was unprepared for. "You mean the little bastard out front? The son of the one now hanging in our Marinating Chamber?". My eyes opened wide and I could feel my heart hammering out of my chest. "The little bastard was a good fuck too. We ate parts of him and left the rest as a sign of things to come to anyone who enters this unhallowed place.".

I was suddenly prompted by my conscience to punch him in the face. He laughed through the pain, spitting blood all over the ground. "You've got nothing to threaten me with… Kill me, sure… but my men will find you… they'll eat you. They'll eat all of you!" He said, succumbing to the spell of hysterics. "That's a mighty different fuckin' tune than the bitch fest I just heard a few seconds ago, compadre'." Hearing nothing else but laughter being bellowed from the monster, I grabbed his hair again and began to hack. I hacked through the tissues and bones of his spine until I had successfully severed his head from his body.

I held his head up in front of me and his body slumped to the ground. Mike walked up to me with a questioning look on his face. "We're going after them… the head is to show to his friends if we find them. His body is in case they come back…" I said to Mike. "But why would they care? Hell, they left him…". "They're cowards like he is, but even cowards need guidance… and who else but the one coward with a little less fear than the rest? Plus… I have plans for his body… I saw some shit over there in the corner when I came in.

At that they left me to my work. It was done in a matter of minutes. When we initially entered, I saw their ammo cache's over to the side… within it I saw claymores and grenades. I grabbed any shrapnel laden objects I could find around the store and rigged the claymores and grenades. I hid them with whatever other objects that could be used for a hurtling force that I could find.. If they did come back… They'd have a surprise waiting for them. If anyone else found them, may God have mercy on their soul. We left the room with the first order of business dealt with. Next came dealing with the man in the Marinating room. That was an easy fix in itself for all it required was one bullet. We decided we would bring our bikes in and stay in the mall at least for the night. The cloud coverage made it appear as though it would rain again and a bike was the last place I wanted to be if they happened.

After getting the bikes in we headed our way across to the other end of the mall to where we would take up a temporary residence… the movie theatre. We wanted to be as far away from the shit as possible, and also have some sort of defense. The theatres were all equipped with heavy metal doors and steel shudders came down in closing hours, so we would be able to implicate them as well. Plus… hell… if we struck it lucky… maybe we could catch a flick while we were there. This was our kingdom now after all….


	17. Chapter 17: A Trip To The Theatre

Chapter 17: A Trip To The Theatre

**We pulled the steel pulled the steel shudders down on both sides of the ticket booths and decided to conduct a thorough search of the place before we even thought about relaxing. Considering there was only three of us, we decided not to split up on the search… I remembered how the game Dead Rising was… and I realized, Yes we'd already fought a fucked up religious cult… so why in the fuck wouldn't there be zombies? Plus… what if some of the members weren't in the shop when the shit went down.**

**We decided to go down the hallway to our left first; both hallways were identical in appearance and layout so we pretty much just flipped a coin. We cleared the bathrooms and main extensions of the hallway before checking all the rooms. Bathrooms were clean, except in the women's bathroom there had been blood pooled by a toilet. Mike and I started laughing as soon as we saw it. Even when the world has ended we were still nothing but immature little bastards at heart. Raquel wanted to laugh but the foreboding feeling of what might've left that puddle of blood being just around the corner to rip us to shreds began to fill her.**

**We checked the utility closet at the end of the hall and were about to check our first theatre when we heard a scream with simultaneous maniacal laughter. Chills ran down our spines as we heard it. It had come from the theatre right across from where we were. I pulled my M14 up and checked the magazine… We had dealt with enough crazy shit because we went in underestimating the sheer weight of the situation we were currently in… It wasn't going to happen again… not on my watch.**

**Mike and Raquel checked their ammo situation and supplemented a few rounds into their clips to bring themselves up to code. As soon as they were ready, I reached for the door and pulled on it slowly. As the door opened to its maximum and got held in place by the door stop, the laughter sounded off again, this time it was followed by the sound of feet running up the stairs. We walked down the hallway, Mike checking the rear, and me taking point. We rounded the corner to gain view of the seating and I saw a woman standing near the top of the aisles. From where we stood, it appeared she was grinning the biggest grin I'd ever seen. She looked down toward where we were standing and asked us, with the faintest hint of sorrow tinging her voice that it almost broke your heart when you heard it: "Where's my baby?". For a moment she said and did nothing but look at us, expectantly for an answer. We looked at each other and back up to her, but she wasn't there. We looked all around us and found not even the slightest clue as to where she had gone. We heard no footsteps, and we heard no movement. We all became slightly uneasy… none of us liked the idea of not knowing where that woman was. **

"**Over… no.. never mind" I said as I quickly turned towards what I had thought was a fleeting image in the corner of my eye. Chalking it up to paranoia, I stayed in position and they did too. It was then that the woman launched up from behind the seats to my left and tackled me to the ground. "I looked up into that horrid face and saw that her face was stuck in a permanent grimace… The skin of her cheeks had been ripped from her face revealing the once white glistening teeth below. Blood caked the rest of her face and there were splotches of it all over her teeth. She had her hands wrapped snuggly around my throat and continued to squeeze. Trying with all my might to remove the claws from around my throat, I couldn't. Lack of oxygen beginning to take effect, my vision began to fade. Mike was trying to get a clear shot but she was right up against the metal wall separating the lower seats from the stairway aisles. He went to run around so he could get a better shot when she jumped from me and onto him. She was clawing at his clothes and I heard his screams. His screams. That's what brought me back to consciousness**

**I got up from the ground, choking, trying to catch my breath. I saw the woman on top of Mike, clawing at him. It reminded me of a Hunter on Left 4 Dead. I pulled my pistol up and shot the woman through the chest, the slug ripped through and out the other side, embedding itself in the wall. Mike taking the woman's distraction as his moment, he shoved her off of himself and she toppled to the floor. I ran over to him and looked at where she'd clawed him. He was bleeding and his shirt was trashed, but the cuts didn't seem to be too bad. I walked over to where the woman was, she spit out a plume of blood that splattered her face more. "Have you seen my baby?" She asked one more time before her head fell to the ground. I put a bullet in her skull, just to be safe.**

**Mike stood up on his own and looked down at the tatters of his shirt. "I fuckin' loved that shirt man…" He said, looking up at me like a sad puppy. I couldn't even laugh because I still couldn't breathe. Raquel pulled a bottle of bactine from her pocket and ran over to Mike, spraying his wounds down with it. "This'll stop it from being sore… and from being infected of course. It was then… those words that changed the look in Mike's eyes. That one word, really: Infected. Raquel picked up the change of atmosphere and quickly looked up at Mike. I knew what she wanted to say, but I also knew Raquel. We all suddenly gained awareness of the situation. She wasn't going to lie to Mike and tell him everything would be okay, when she knew it very well might not be. That wasn't in her taste. **

**It was Mike who finally broke our silence. "So where do we go from here?". "What do you mean, man?" I asked. "Just because I might be infected don't mean I'm not useful right now… You know what we'll have to do.", "Yeah… but I've never seen anyone turn… not from being attacked by one of them… not just infected people.. ". "Bam, God damn it you know exactly what happens… I become one of them.". What little bit of my heart that still beat inside me, broke. Mike was like my brother… It was bad enough not knowing where Rusty was… but Mike's death certificate had just been issued. Mike, seeing the look in my eyes, put his hand on my shoulder. "Lets go search the rest of this place out man… We need a safe place… and this place won't be no safer if we stand around here."**

**The rest of the search turned up nothing. Not even a single zombie was staggering the theatres or halls. Only us. We set our stuff down in the main lobby and grabbed a seat on one of the benches. No one said anything, we all just sat there and seemed to almost be waiting for the inevitable to come and collect on its debt. Mike suddenly got up and said, "Fuck this… I want popcorn." And walked on towards the concession stand with Raquel right behind him. I just sat there and thought. Thought about the weight the end of the world actually brought. Thought about how it felt that this unstoppable force was taking away loved ones left and right with no regard to the ones left behind: the survivors, if we were really even that. I remembered reading a series of stories on a website I frequented… . The series was written by a man named Rob Morgan-something… I remember that in his stories he talked about a radical and overall imposing force again… a religious cult called "Necs". They believed the walking dead were angels and sent by God to collect the souls of Earth to bring them to Heaven when they were all "set free". They used a drug that caused secretion of scent that allowed them to walk amongst the zombies and aid them in their "divine" calling.**

**It made me think of how I had rooted for the killings of every single one of those bastards with every word I read of those stories. It made me realize how someone could divulge themselves into such a broken belief system: It was a way out… it gave them hope that they would be saved… a last chance to settle things up with God before the final callings began. But most of all what all this realization did was piss me off. It made me hate the world, hate the dead that inhabited it. No salvation awaited us in the gaping maws and greedy claws of those blasphemous bastards. No salvation awaited us anywhere. What were we fighting for? The dead wouldn't stop until we were all gone… And tonight they came a little bit closer to their overall completion of the plan. Tonight or tomorrow, we would burry Mike… No, we wouldn't get to burry him. We would have to kill him, then put him somewhere. Grieving wasn't an option in a world where death ran so rampant, for if you stop to grieve the falling of a fellow soldier in the war of life and death, the enemy would run right over you. It was best to keep moving. So I decided then, after Mike turned… After we sent him off to whatever waited for him after this… We would leave. We would leave and figure out why this was happening. We would do what we could to survive and maybe in finding out the truth in all of this mess… we could help the rest of the world survive it as well. And if not… hopefully Mike'll be there to greet us when our time on earth ran down the ever-circling chambers of God's hour glass.**


	18. Chapter 18: Brothers of Anarchy

**Chapter 18: Brothers of Anarchy.**

We all eventually decided to eat something after the events of the evening had unfolded. Mike, as lively as ever, continued to make jokes all night and kept me and Raquel laughing continuously. We found the breaker box which was incidentally connected to a generator. We turned the power to the equipment in the theatre on and decided to play the games that were set up in the lobby. After a little while of failing to win the iPod and Cell phones and whatnot that were displayed in the clear glass casing around the playing board, I broke the glass with the butt of my gun and handed the prizes off to Mike and Raquel for immense effort. We were all laughing and having a good time when Mike suddenly bolted for the bathroom holding his stomach. I looked at Raquel and she looked back at me with concern embedded in her face. I told her to wait there and ran after Mike.

By the time I made it to the bathroom, Mike was doubled over the first toilet and puking his guts out. I say "puking his guts out" in an almost literal way considering that not only did his food come up… but loads of blood and chunks of other shit came up with it… splattering the white floor around him. I ran over to him, to help him up or comfort him… I'm not sure which, but he pushed me off of him and I fell to the floor. It wasn't until I happened to glance down at my hand and saw the dark purple ink imbedded into the skin forming the Anarchy symbol. Seeing the symbol made my heart feel as if it were going to die right then and there.

Mike and I had both gotten the symbol tattooed one night when we got drunk on his front porch. His brother in law was a tattoo artist and had all his equipment with him. We were talking about it one second and I said.. "Fuck this… I'm getting the fuckin' thing… you with me?" I had said in a drunken slur. 30 minutes later we were both inked with it, and its something I never regretted. It was a philosophy both Mike and I believed in and it represented something between us… brotherhood and freedom. We put it on our hands to proudly display our brotherhood. And now… the brotherhood would die in a bloody gruesome mess by a fucking toilet. Mike was dying… he knew it. I knew it. I only wished there were something we could do.

Mike, after getting done vomiting, turned around and looked at me. "Why you look so sad bro?" He said, delirium obviously beginning to set in. "Nothin' man… just worried about you.". "We all knew what was coming, bro. And if its any help at all… I was trying to save you… and I don't regret it in the slightest. I was a soldier… I was able to do what needed to be done…". "Yeah… but if I hadn't of gotten grabbed this wouldn't be happening..". "Shut your fucking mouth, you didn't do nothing wrong, bro. None of us knew where that crazy bitch went. It couldn't be helped. It was either gonna be you or me.". "And I wish it had been me, man…".

Just then I heard Raquel call for me. "Fuck, Mike stay here… I'll be right back." I grabbed my gun and ran out of the bathroom. I found Raquel on the ground, one of those things had her pinned down. Her gun wasn't within reach. I quickly sighted in and put a bullet in its head, and she threw it off of herself. "Are you okay?" I asked as I helped her up. "Yeah… Just no idea where he came from… I kept an eye out around me… he snuck up on me fast. How's Mike?" My eyes grew distant suddenly… a bad feeling began to grow within me. "Fuck. Just come with me… don't want this shit happening again.". We ran together into the bathroom where Mike had been… only he wasn't there. "Where the fuck did he go? I told him to stay-…" It was then that we heard immense laughter followed quickly by a blood thirsty roar. We both looked at each other… fear filling up our hearts. "Fuck…." I said as we stood there, Raquel showing the obvious signs of terror. Mine may not have been as obvious… but were there nonetheless. Mike was turned and loose in the theatre… Now we had to find him before he found us.


	19. Chapter 19: Nightmares

**Chapter 19: Nightmares**

_I opened my eyes in another room than the one I had fallen asleep in. I looked around for Raquel but didn't see her anywhere. "Raquel?" I called for her but received no response. All around me the room was mostly dark, but I could see silhouettes of the furniture because of a small slit of light filtering in through the open door directly across the room from me. It was then I suddenly realized where I was… The bedroom of my old house. The house in which I had spent my childhood. _

_I got up off of the bed and walked across the room to my door. It was ajar like it usually was because there wasn't a knob on the door to keep it shut, I had to use an old hook and eye lock to hold it closed when I slept. I opened the door to find the house in almost perfect shape. It was clean… too clean. As I walked down the short hallway to the kitchen, I saw my Dad's back as he sat in his chair and my mom was standing over the sink… I assumed she was washing dishes. Saying my hellos ,but not exactly waiting for responses, I walked into the living room to watch TV. I sat down and turned the TV on, changing channels until I found an episode of Family Guy._

_Everything seemed normal until I heard a loud crash from the kitchen, followed quickly by another in quick succession, and the sounds of snarling and chewing… very loud chewing filled the air. Having no weapons near me, I looked for the closest thing I could use for one and found an old wrench laying on the table. It was a socket wrench, and a fairly large one at that, so I figured I could make use of it if I needed to. _

_Walking slowly, stealthily, around the living room and to the doorway of the kitchen, I saw my parents had fallen over. In shock of seeing my parents laying obviously dead on the ground, I didn't notice at first, but a woman was leaning over my Dad. She was reaching into his stomach and pulling things out of him. Bits of bloody intestines and unidentifiable pieces fell from her eager mouth as she shoveled the morsels in as quickly as she could._

_I felt a tear run down my cheek as I watched the scene unfold in front of me. It was then that I realized I couldn't move. I wanted to get in there and beat that bitch's brains in for killing them. I felt hate and need for vengeance rising within me. But no matter how much I willed myself to, I couldn't even put one foot in front of the other. Right then, when the emotions of panic began to peak, she raised her head up… It was Raquel. She stalked towards me, as dead as a god damned doornail, and grinned. She knew I couldn't move… she had me where she wanted me. It wasn't the idea of dying that scared me… it was the idea of dying for nothing. Watching those I love die… and not being able to do shit about it._

_As she got closer to me, the grin became wider. Blood and bits and pieces fell from her teeth and landed all over her chest and on the ground where she walked. My emotions quickly became muddled as the realization of who the attacker was came into perspective. The hate and anger subsided and were replaced by hopelessness and loneliness. Everyone I loved was gone. I couldn't save them. Not even her. And now I would pay for it._

_She was right upon me within mere seconds and tackled me to the floor. I finally found the freedom to move and grabbed her underneath the chin to hold her off of me. She snarled and blood dripped on me. My parents blood. The snarling suddenly subsided and it, along with the sneer on her face, were replaced again with that grin and subsequent laughter. Maniacal laughter. "You can't stop it. Sooner or later we'll come for you." She said. "Fuck you!" I responded and continued holding her at bay. "Come on now, you wouldn't hurt "Puppet" would you?". Anger again filled me. This wasn't her, this was simply a shell filled with the purest of evil. I wouldn't let my guard down to her, but my grip was getting weaker. I had lost the wrench and had nothing within reach to grab. I would soon be done… but I wasn't done fighting yet. "Fuck you!" I screamed again, trying to find leverage. Finally my legs found purchase under the recliner and I flipped her over. As soon as I was on top of her, I slammed her head into the ground. She twitched and stopped moving._

_Hot tears burned my face as I looked down at the only person I'd had left. Watching the blood surround her head like a macabre halo. Her eyes were distant and had a milky film over them. Suddenly her body twitched and she began to speak again. "You will burn for this…". I was speechless. The tears continued to fall and I stared down at her. Nothing moving but her lips, until suddenly life fluttered back into her eyes. The film was replaced by the same brown her eyes had been in life. She still didn't move anything but her lips… it was all she could do. Speak._

"_You've got to stop this…" She said, in an almost dreamily sorrowful tone. "It isn't over… you've got to stop this… They will never stop… You have to make them.". "I can't do it all on my own… there's millions of them… how is one man supposed to do that, god damnit?" I screamed at her dead body. "You're not alone… all you've got to do is wake up…" Her voice began to echo. I felt hands on me. Shaking me._

"Bam, wake up! You're scaring the shit out of me!"

I woke up and took stock of my surroundings. We were in the Circle K we'd decided to hole up in for the night after leaving the mall. "What the fuck were you dreaming about?". I said nothing, not wanting to even slightly relive the events. "I didn't mean to wake you up Raquel… sorry." I said, looking over at her. We had fallen asleep huddled together. It was cold as fuck and the building's heat wasn't working. We found a blanket in one of the lockers and used it to keep ourselves as warm as possible. "Its cool, its probably time to wake up anyway. You just scared me… you were talking and shaking a lot… I didn't know what to do…" She stood up after finishing her sentence. "…Just glad you're okay and all.". She walked to the bathroom in the corner of the break room we were in. I reached in my coat and pulled out a cigarette and lighter. Watching the end of the paper light up in an orange glow, I pulled the wonderous first hit of the day into my lungs, still trying to shake the affects of the nightmare from my mind.

Instead of thinking about the dream, I thought about the previous day. After we heard Mike's laughter, we searched for a while and tried to find him. The search concluded when we found a side entrance to the theatre open… he had gotten out. We decided to get our shit and leave. We didn't want to be there if he decided to come back. More so what I thought about was what I had seen upon my entry to the bathroom where he laid dying on the floor. He was pulling his pant leg back down… I saw a bullet hole. Mike had been in the Marines in the nineties and had been sent home with shrapnel in his knees and upper thigh. What I speculated occurred, was he was shot and the shrapnel clogged the arteries for a while until he fell to his knees in the bathroom. He bled out. Those bastards were the overall reason he was dead. The infected woman we encountered only sped things up. He would have died anyway.

I wanted their blood on my hands. I wanted to cut the life out of every one of them, even if it killed me. Not just for Mike… Not just for the child's corpse and the subsequent finding of his father in a "Marinating room". It was for all of the countless people they had killed. Every innocent laid to waste by their hands. All the lives lost to the will of those cannibalistic bastards. I didn't know where they had gone… but remembering the fires burning out near Central… I figured it was a good place to start. Raquel and I had discussed it the previous night. We needed a place to lay low for a while… we needed rest. I told her of my plan to renovate the library of Central Cabarrus High School into the perfect haven for us. It was something I had planned out in my days as a student there… I had been writing a story and planned to use the idea but the story fell to the wayside and stayed forgotten until now. The library had steel doors as its two main entries. The only other entry was the windows at the end of the room, which led to "Senior's Lot" or something of the sort. All we had to do was wall it off with some of the steel bookshelves. The next part of the plan entailed the second level of the library which looked out over the rest of the room. The aforementioned room led into the theatre. I planned to cut out some of the wooden slats that made up the wall and use a ladder to get up and down from the room. We could use the theatre access to make raids to the cafeteria and whatnot. Depending on how much time we spent there, we would then branch out, given resources would allow it, and begin barricading the rest of the place, inevitably building a fortress. I had ideas on how we could barricade with minimal use of inventory. I could break down some of the bookshelves and weld them together and then weld the ends into the door frames. Luckily I had acquired some knowledge from Mike on the welding end of it and we would have everything we needed in the shop classes and maintenance rooms. It seemed things were finally beginning to look up. Until we walked out of the back room and into the actual store.

After Raquel got finished rinsing herself off and getting dressed we grabbed our guns and headed into the main store area. What greeted us was a wall of zombies pounding at the doors and windows to gain entry. From the looks of it, they'd be in before we knew it. We didn't have the ammo to waste all of them. The bike was out front and surrounded by them. We were seemingly fucked. I stood there… just staring at them. Until Raquel was struck with an idea. "Follow me… I know what we can do." Without a word of reply I followed her. We quickly found a door that led outside and she smiled as soon as she saw it. She quietly opened the door and peered out. "Alright, lets go.". "Mind if I ask where we're going?" I said. "We can walk down the road and find a car or something. This neighborhood was one of the ones that got evac'd. One of my friends lived near here… there car'll be there… we'll head there first. Following her lead, we walked on down the road. We hadn't gotten far when we heard the burglary alarm go off in the store. They'd gotten in. At least we hadn't been followed, I thought to myself as I quickly took a look behind me to make sure. We walked down the road, passing a church and a few houses. "His house is right around here…." Raquel stopped mid-sentence. I didn't know why until I looked closer. A few zombies were banging on the door of a house down the block. Not many. Ten at most. But the fact is, they were trying to get in. They didn't bother getting inside of a place unless there were people in there. They could smell us or something. Either way, we knew what we had to do, and I can't say it was all good Samaritan work either. Whoever was in there had a car in their driveway… An SUV, It could be extremely helpful when it came to gathering supplies, plus they could help us in our little renovations if they decided to come with us. Raquel and I checked our ammo, making sure we were full. We looked at each other, took a deep breath, nodded, and walked onward. It was time to play Savior.


	20. Chapter 20: Horrors of Wilshire

**Chapter 20: Horrors Of Wilshire**

As we drew nearer to the scene, I stopped and held Raquel back. "What's wrong?" she asked. I took the bag I had been carrying over my shoulder and began to sort through it, leaving her question temporarily unanswered. She began to get frustrated and was about to ask again when I pulled something from the bag and handed it to her. "A machete?… We have guns… why the fuck would I need this?". I zipped the bag back up and picked it up off of the ground. "There are only a few over there… I'd like to keep it that way. They may smell us out and **eventually** find us that way but I don't want to go firing off guns to alert them to our presence any more than we have to.". Nodding in understanding she took the machete and slung her shotgun over her shoulder where it hung loosely on her back. As we walked forward I strayed to the left a little to find an axe stuck in a wooden tree stump in the front yard of a house. Pulling it free from the wood, I checked out the blade. Whoever had been using this had sharpened it recently, no doubt cutting wood for their fireplace which was pretty common amongst some of the older folks in the area who stayed stuck in their old ways. I thanked God for the luck of finding it and walked onward with Raquel towards the house which was now only yards away.

As we closed the distance between us and the house, the zombies began to take notice. Raquel hurried forward and brought her machete down on the zombie's head. It then proceeded to fall limp as she pulled the blade from the wound and made a soft thud as its body hit the ground. I proceeded onward right after her, slamming the axe into the neck of another zombie. We continued hacking and slashing until they were all dead for good and lay in heaps around us.

We took stock of the area around us before proceeding to the front door of the house, making sure there weren't any nasties lurking in the shadows. Finding nothing, I walked up to the front door and knocked, "Anyone inside? We're here to help." I said, hoping to raise anyone inside's attention. I listened closely for footsteps and heard someone shuffling around but no one came to the door. I gave the knob a rattle, checking to see if it was locked, and to my surprise it wasn't. "We're coming on in! Don't shoot!" I said as I turned the knob and opened the door. When the door was opened, what greeted us was almost absolute darkness. Bits of sun shone in through small gaps in the wooden barricades nailed over the windows but that was all the illumination we had. "Hey Raquel, turn on the flashlight that's connected to the shotgun." I whispered to her. She put the machete through a belt loop and pulled her gun up, flicking the light on. The light instantly shot a beam straight outward, and Raquel screamed "Oh my God! Bam look out!". Confused I tried to turn around but I felt something hard thud against my skull. The world around me faded and my knees buckled. I fell to the ground. All I could hear were screams… both of panic and rage. Voices… not just one… many. I couldn't make out what anyone was saying, but my vision cleared slightly and only long enough for me to see someone grab Raquel and drag her away to another room. "No… Let her go…" I tried to scream at the assailants… but all that came out were broken and weak whispers. The world went black.

**Part 2**

I opened my eyes and my vision was blurry, no doubt a result of being hit on the head. I tried to move but I was bound by something. I shook my head and attempted to clear my vision but only succeeded somewhat. I looked down and saw faintly I was tied to a chair. Within a few minutes my vision cleared and I could see the layout of the room I was in. It was a bedroom at one time, but had become what seemed to be a makeshift jail cell. The windows had all been painted black and had metal bars placed over them, and all of this could only be seen with the meager yet effective candle light coming from a nightstand in the corner of the room. I began to pay closer attention and saw old blood stains all over the floor and on the bed sheets which lay crumpled up in the corner. "What in the hell did we stumble into?" I said to myself. I began to struggle against the bonds, trying to work them loose but it was to no avail, whoever tied them had done so before… many times before from the looks of the blood on the carpets.

As I began to try again to loosen my bonds, the door opened. A man and a woman entered, dragging Raquel along with them. Her hands were tied together and she had been gagged with an old cloth. "What the fuck have you done to her?" I screamed at them. They replied only with laughter. The woman was in her mid-to-late fifties and the man in his twenties, both seemed to not have showered any time recently. When they laughed you could see the blackened gums and decayed teeth in their mouths… their breath was almost tangible in the most terrible of ways. "We ain't done nothin'… not yet." The woman said and then burst out into another fit of laughter. "That's just what we came here to do… you get to watch the whole thing!". "Let her go!" I screamed at the woman, again getting no response but bursts of laughter. I could see Raquel struggling against her bonds, but there wasn't much she could do with the people standing right beside her. The man grabbed Raquel and brought his face close to hers and smiled, "This one's mine Mama…" The woman laughed again and said "That's fine Jr. But in good time… we'll have some fun with them before I let you run off and play on your own… Speakin' of playin'… I need to go get the toys… leave the bitch in here and come with me, they should at least have a little bit of peace before the fun starts… cuz they won't be getting anymore after that!" They both cackled and the man threw Raquel to the ground, slamming the door and locking it behind them as they left.

Raquel weakly got up into a sitting position, Struggling with her bonds as much as they would allow, trying any avenue of escape. At this point, I had stopped struggling, not because of a sense of defeat, because panic set in. I wasn't freaking out and screaming from panic, it had simply desensitized me. I felt numb. A voice in my head constantly screamed for me to move, to try, but I couldn't, I just sat there. Raquel, in the meantime, had struggled greatly with her bonds, and to her luck the knots began to slip. An excited look crossed her face as she saw the knot begin to slacken, but it was crushed the second she saw me. With new determination she pulled and ripped until the tape on her hands fell away. She ripped at the tape binding her feet and tore it away from her. As soon as she was capable, she was up and kneeling in front of me. Everything being so vibrant, the light filtering around her almost seemed angelic. "Bam, say something… please…" She whispered. I heard it all, but I couldn't respond… It was then that I saw true horror in her eyes… I suddenly felt something warm running down my face… from my ear. Everything got blurry and my head began to sway. The light suddenly caved in around me, and darkness engulfed me…

_They will come for you…_

_You've got to help us…._

_You will fail… You will die…_

_Bam… wake up… please…._

I awoke suddenly and the blurriness had faded. My hands were untied. I rubbed my wrists, the raw spots where the ropes had bound me itched and burned… almost as if the ropes were cured in pure alcohol. I looked around the room, but didn't see Raquel. I stood up, losing my equilibrium momentarily, but catching myself before I could fall. Lying in the corner, I saw the nightstand, now broken. I grabbed a leg off of it and wielded my newfound weapon. The candle had been put out, probably before the table had gotten knocked over, but an almost grey light filtered in through the hallway. I opened the door quietly to look out into an empty hallway. The room I was in apparently took up the entire first floor, because there wasn't another door on the hallway, except for the bathroom which the door had been ripped from its hinges and it was quite easily visible that no one was in it.

I walked silently down the hallway and to the staircase. To my dismay, try as I might, the old stairs still creaked with every step. Wincing with every step on account of the noise, I walked as slowly and stealthily as possible. As I neared the bottom stair, I saw a body laying in the floor. Where most people's first instincts would tell them "Oh God that's a dead body, it must be my friend!", I had more faith in her than that. Luckily on closer inspection, it seemed to be the young man that had been in the room earlier. "Fuck yeah!" I whispered to myself in praise of Raquel's natural talent for killing shit. Hearing hushed tones and shuffling sounds coming from the kitchen, I opted to make my way in there.

Nearing the door, I tried in vain to hear the words coming from the other side. Finally accepting that the listening was to no avail, and settling on just going in, I kicked the door open. To my surprise, I didn't find Raquel's bloody corpse hanging from meat hooks. She sat, almost casually in a chair at the kitchen table. She faced directly across to the older woman whom we'd seen earlier. The woman was bound.

"Holy shit Raquel… You're a fuckin' bad ass" I said as I made my way in. Raquel slammed her fists on the table in frustration, "God damn it, Bitch! Just tell me why you did this!" she screamed at the woman. In reply, the woman proceeded to spit a wad of what seemed to be blood, a couple teeth, and a few other fun little surprises I didn't recognize, "I ain't tellin' you nothin, filthy whore!". Raquel jumped up but I put my hand on her shoulder and asked her to sit down. For some reason, even in psycho-mode, she listened.

I sat down at the table then, and looked at the woman. "Now… this can all be handled very easily… You tell us the truth… there's a chance we'll let you go. This is all about curiosity…" I began, pushing my way into the conversation. "…Or you could continue acting like a fucking cunt and I'll fuck you with the splintered end of this god damned table leg… you got me?". The woman's eyes changed from a shade of anger and hilarity, to a stone, emotionless face. She said nothing. We said nothing.

Minutes went by before a sound was made. The sound emitted from the woman, as suddenly as her new demeanor had taken hold, she cackled. The same cackle we heard upstairs. "Yer' askin' me fer answers to questions that don't exist!". Raquel and I looked at her with both slight confusion, and major frustration. We said nothing. "To give you what you want… I'll tell you this… I don't much have a reason for what I do… I like killin' people… think of it as Bingo on Saturday night with the other old folks… 'cept my own flesh and blood took up to it real quick-like… We just like watchin' you squirm. The woman then burst out into another bout of laughing. Raquel and I looked at the woman, stone and emotionless. Raquel got up from her seat and walked over to her, picking up her machete on her way. She took the woman's hand in hers and rubbed it gently before choosing a finger and beginning to saw. The woman screamed bloody murder, which I found ironic even at the time. She begged and pleaded Raquel to stop. She did, too… when the last bit of skin snapped away and the finger came off of the woman's hand. It had been the woman's middle finger. Still screaming, the woman began to buck in her bonds, but it was to no avail, Raquel had tied her up with barbed wire, apparently from the same roll they bound me from… It wasn't until I found this out that I noticed the tiny scars running around my wrists.

It was obvious that something had snapped within us. Seeing this much evil within such a short amount of time and in such bulk is enough to drive anyone mad. This woman had just admitted to us that she tortures innocent people just for the fun of it… hell, at least the cannibals killed for food some of the time. I got up from my seat and asked Raquel if I could borrow her machete. She handed it over with a confused look, and I walked out of the room. I came back with my end of the torture… Vengeance.

The woman's eyes began to tear up as she saw the severed member in my hand. Raquel's eyes showed that she was simply curious as to my over all plans. I handed the machete back to Raquel and picked up a roll of Duck Tape from the table. I pried the woman's mouth open and shoved her son's severed penis in, and held her jaw shut as Raquel began wrapping the tape around the woman's face, holding her mouth closed. "To begin with… you've no right calling anyone a whore when you couldn't tell me the name of the faggot who knocked you up to make the cock you have in your mouth. For that matter… I don't think you could tell me how much he paid to do it. Think of what we're doing as justice served. Maybe after you suffer here… Heaven will open its white pearly gates for you…" I grabbed her by the shirt then and put my face close enough that I could smell the fear rising up in her chest. "…But I personally hope they shut just as quickly and you're devoured by nothing… Hell isn't bad enough for what you've done… In Hell you'd have company.". I looked at Raquel and simply said, "Your turn now… finish her.". Raquel smiled as she stepped up to the plate. She took the finger and held it up in front of the woman… "I should put this in that bat cave and tell you to fuck yourself… but I think that part is clearly stated… Instead I think what I'll do… Is cut your fucking hands and feet off… then let the zombies in to tear you apart. She looked over to me, almost as if she were taking a vote, I nodded. She stood up and walked over to the woman's side. She swung the machete down once, slicing down to the bone… we heard the muffled scream. Raquel swung again and the bone splintered, not breaking fully. The woman's muffled screams grew louder. Finally… with one final blow…. The hand fell to the ground. The screaming woman quickly became the choking woman. Raquel and I stared at the woman, stunned, amazed, and a little disappointed. The woman fought, and bucked, and coughed, all to no avail… the darkness eventually took her from this world.

We looked at the woman… making sure she was dead, and began to gather our stuff back together. Raquel sat me down at the table before we left and began cleaning the cut on my head where I had been accosted on my entry into this hell-hole. We didn't say much, we hadn't much to say. We just thought about the events which had unfolded… and subsequently we both thought about the fact that we may not of gotten our kill of choice… but the bitch died choking on her son's dick… that's kind of hilarious too, right?. We still knew our plans, we knew where we were headed, only now we knew we had what it took to live, not simply survive like we had been doing. Raquel showed me she didn't need anyone holding her hand through all of this, I learned also that I didn't need to hold anyone's hand to have a reason to live. This was not survival anymore. Survival tends to be associated with the intent for things to change eventually… Just surviving until we're saved. There was no savior in all of this… this wasn't the end of the world… it was a new beginning. No angels descending to battle demons, no fire rained down from the skies… no lakes suddenly grew aflame as if filled with gasoline rather than water… none of that was happening. We were being thinned out. You just had to learn to adapt to the changes around you and move on from there…. And from here… we head to our new destination. Where Raquel and I had first met… Central Cabarrus…


	21. Chapter 21: Brighter Days

**Chapter 21: Brighter Days**

_They'll come for you…_

Ever since I had that nightmare, I couldn't shake that one memory…. That one line. We had failed at obtaining the SUV outside. The keys weren't inside and neither of us knew shit about hotwiring it. We were in luck though, as we found another SUV down the road with the keys in the ignition, the person whom owned it seemed to have been attacked; We found the blood on the ground.

Raquel had decided to drive on account of my obtaining a head injury, just for safe measures. We rode down the short path that was Wellington Rd., and took a right as we exited onto 601. The couple of miles that spanned from Family Video to the school seemed as if it went on forever, and it was clustered in evidence that something had gone horribly wrong. The Bi-Lo had been raided and parts of it were aflame. The windows were busted out and trash was strewn throughout the parking lot, it looked as if it had been hit hard with looting. Fires also loomed high in the skies from the neighborhood they lay behind it.

The road temporarily relieved us from atrocity… that was until we came upon the church. The old white building which sat across from a local fire station had been destroyed… No… not just destroyed… Defiled. The cult had hit it pretty hard. Bodies hung crucified all over the lawn, including a homeless man hung to the cross on top of the church. He also had a crown… of thorns or barbed wire… I couldn't tell from that far away. The same macabre decorations that littered the mall, were reflected here. Somehow though… it seemed worse here. There was intent here. Spray-painted in red across the stone garden which made the church's sign, the words "GOD IS DEAD" were displayed.

We then made it to the intersection where Troutman's Barbecue stood to our right. I hated the building. I hated it before, and I hated it now. There was always an ominous feel within its walls. A very talented artist, with whom I was personally acquainted, had died before finishing his last piece in the very building, an entire back wall was painted to show the various stages the restaurant had been through throughout its long history. He had been putting the last touches on the work, he died of a heart attack. He was never able to finish the art, the very sight of the painting filled me with sorrow. I think the saddest part about it is, that not only was his last work finished… it was the vision of someone else… he hadn't even been allowed a final epitaph within his work.

It wasn't but seconds until we exited off onto the highway that would bring us out directly in front of Central Cabarrus. We drove down in silence. We passed my friend Ryan's old neighborhood on our right. It had gone down in flames as well… and being that it was mostly comprised of double and single-wides… it burned fast. We continued on towards Central, passing the intersection of Zion Church. I began to feel anxious all of a sudden, wondering what laid in store for us at the school. Wondering what kind of shape it would be in. As we passed over the horizon and neared the school I was pleasantly surprised… scarily, pleasantly surprised to find it not only still standing but untouched.

We pulled into the school parking lot, where the car rider line was so that we could get a good view around most of the building… but we would have to check around back ourselves. We finally parked the car near the ROTC building and got out. Guns in hand, we walked onward up the cement path that led to a large courtyard, the door to Norse Cove, and another courtyard which held a solitary trailer in which I had frequented as my first English class in high school. We passed by it to check the back wall of the building. Walking around the school and up the awkward slope of the ground was difficult but we finally got around and scoped things out. Nothing was amiss. No stragglers or hordes in the parking lot… no Para-militant group waited to rob, rape, and kill us at gunpoint, and no other random unknown death contraption we had yet to face awaited us in back.

We continued onward and gave everything else a good thorough one-over, checking all the trailers for any occupants, living or dead… or both for that matter. We found nothing until we got to what I believe was trailer 1 or 2 where I had attended Mrs. Fawcett's English class sophomore year. I turned the knob on the door to find it locked. I stepped back and proceeded to kick it in, but the door wouldn't give. I looked at Raquel with a sheer "What The Fuck?" Expression before we heard something move from the other side. A small wooden door slid open at eye level, which I swore to God hadn't been there when I first looked, and I saw eyes looking at me from within. "What do you want?". I stood, still amazed at the small door for a second before answering. "We're here to take over the school…". It was then that craziness crept into the eyes we were looking at, "You aim to kill them people?" I looked over to Raquel. She shrugged, which caused me to look back in confusion. "Um… What people?". The woman grew hysterical and screamed at us, "They kicked me out! Said I was wrong for killin' that woman, but she was a zombie I tell ya! A zombie!". "Yeah… there's a few zombies in the world.. Um.. When did they kick you out?" She calmed down again, and I continued to listen, intrigued as this woman continued on. "It was 'twards the beginnin' of all this… The woman might notta looked like one… but I tells ya! SHE WAS A ZOMBIE!". I looked over at Raquel… she too noticed that this woman was apparently… Bat-shit crazy. But we didn't know what to say. I finally decided to go check on these "people" if they were even still around… or ever were for that matter. We walked away and the woman shut the tiny door on us. Once we were a safe distance away, I looked at Raquel. "How the fuck did she get that little door in the big door… those things are pretty much hollowed out aluminum. Hell… for that matter… I might not be the incredible fucking Hulk… But I'm pretty god damned sure my foot should've kicked that motherfucker in." Raquel laughed a little and sighed, "I know… I'm still confused myself. Lets just go see these people and decide whether or not to stay or get the fuck out of here.". I nodded and we walked on. We stood in front of the main doors of the school and nostalgia hit us like a fuckin' brick. It was like the first time we had ever stepped foot here. It hadn't changed since those days and we still felt like the kids who went there. As we stepped forward and grabbed hold of the doors I uttered a single phrase: "I fucking hate this idea suddenly…" Raquel just nodded.. And we stepped inside.


	22. Chapter 22: People Are People

**Chapter 22: People Are People**

As we entered the doors of the main reception area of the school we looked around to see if any of the residents were nearby. Not wanting to scare them, but also not wanting them to scare us, we kept an eye about us. We walked into the office to our right which is where you went to get visitor's passes and the like, although we doubted they had been of much use recently. The office was empty… well not empty, just devoid of people. Nothing in the office seemed to have been touched after the last day the school had been opened. Everything was neatly put away or in its rightful place, nothing out of the ordinary; ironically though, this seemed extremely out of the ordinary to us. "If people had been here… don't you think they would've looked around in here at some point?" I asked Raquel. "Yeah, but maybe they just keep it tidy?". Considering the possibility of this, we decided there was nothing left to see here and we moved on. We walked through the connected hallways and all of the offices but found nothing… absolutely nothing.

We exited through the office at the end of the hall which had a secondary door that led to the hallway that held the "Control Room" which was the detention center when we went to school, and it also housed the guidance counselor's offices. We treaded as quietly as possible through the hall and thought it would be another dead end until we neared the guidance councilor's offices. I stopped walking and Raquel bumped into me "What the fuck?" She whispered harshly. I turned and put a finger to my lips and pointed at the door. She remained silent and we heard a rustling sound coming from within. We walked as stealthily as we possibly could and entered the room, we saw nothing in the immediate area but quickly got pointed in the right direction.

Coming from the office which had housed the councilor dubbed "The Dream Killer" we heard someone opening and closing drawers and whoever it was sounded extremely frustrated. Before we could say anything the person exited the office and stopped dead in their tracks as soon as they saw us. A look of shock washed over their face and they seemed to have been frozen. They didn't make a sound. "We aren't here to hurt you…" I began but was quickly silenced as the cold metal of a gun barrel was placed against the back of my neck. "Don't make a fucking sound dickhead" A voice said from behind me. "Sit down in those chairs and don't make any sudden movements… Either of you.." Raquel and I reluctantly sat down in the chairs which had at one time served for people waiting to see their councilor.

"Give me your guns… Now." The person said. "You aren't taking our guns, man… Like I said… we aren't here to.."… "Shut the fuck up and do as I said… give me your fucking guns.. Now.". Looking into the man's eyes… I could see he played tough but didn't want to pull the trigger any more than I did… well slightly less than I did considering he was being a real prick about all of this. I looked up at the man… not a man… he was younger than I was… quite a bit younger. He probably went to school here. "We aren't here to hurt you." I began again "Now stop fucking interrupting me and let me fucking speak." The kid began shifting his eyes between Raquel and I nervously. "We only came because we needed a safe place… that's all. If you don't want us here… we'll leave.". The kid continued eyeing us and cocked his shotgun. "Yeah, we've heard that before." the kid said. I watched his finger fall over the trigger and time felt as if it completely stopped. I watched his finger apply pressure to the trigger and waited for the fatal boom to follow. But it didn't… we heard an empty click. I jumped up and took the gun from him and trained my rifle on him. Raquel got up and trained hers on the girl who had been raiding the office. "Sit the fuck down… both of you.". They complied. "Things were okay until you pulled the fucking trigger, what the hell is the matter with you?". He looked up at me and tears filled his eyes.. "I'm sorry… you look like the people who attacked us not too long ago… They killed our parents… we thought you were with them.". I looked over at Raquel and without words… we both knew what the other was thinking. "These people… What did they look like?". "S..Some of them were dressed in military uniforms… the others just looked like Goths or something… I don't know.. They told us they would come back and eat us.". The kid started crying, but the girl never shed a tear. "We aren't them… but we know who they are. Stop crying and tell us is there anyone else here with you guys?". The kid continued crying and Raquel punched me in the arm. "Don't be a dick about it." She said. "He tried to kill us… I apologize if I'm a little ornery about it." I retorted. Raquel gave me a look then that could've killed me. I sighed and turned back to the kid. "Look man, I'm sorry about your parents. I really am. We saw… We saw what they're capable of… trust me. We want to help you. Are you alone?". The kid wiped his eyes and tried to compose himself, "N-No… there are others.". I nodded and told them to stand up. "Take us to them…" I aimed my gun at the ground. "..If you wouldn't mind. I have some plans to make this place safer…" Not having an M14 barrel pointed at his face, he lightened up a bit. The girl still never spoke.

We followed them out of the room and down the hall. We didn't have to go far, everyone was congregated in the library. As we entered, we saw 5 people… All were adults. Two women and Three men. "Who in the fuck are you?" Was the greeting we received, followed swiftly by the sound of guns being readied to fire. The kid stopped them, "Don't worry… they're not who you think they are… they're here to help us." A Hispanic man, whom I took as the leader… He had been the one who asked the question. "That's very fucking nice and all… but how do we know you aren't just gonna try and kill us like they did. I pulled the backpack off of my back and told the man to follow me.

We went out into the entryway, out of eye sight of the kids, and I opened the bag… showing him what I had. The leader's severed head stared back at him as he peered in. He spit on the head and shook my hand, "… this is the bastard that took their parents. How did you do this?". I looked into the library, Raquel was standing by the kids, she had gotten the girl to start talking. Making sure the kids weren't within earshot I turned back to the man. "We originally headed to Concord Mills… heard there was a rescue station… and we found this prick and all of his little cronies. We had a gunfight with them… some fled.. a lot of them died. They killed my friend. We want revenge too.". He nodded and stuck his hand out again, "Name's Rob..". I shook his hand, "I'm Bam.". "Well Bam… follow me and we'll all get acquainted…. Oh.. Take that head in there to the nurse's office real quick. Don't need that thing stinkin' it up in here. We'll get rid of it later.". He walked on into the library. I went into the office and placed the bag under the desk. I took a look around and walked back into the library.

As Rob walked into the library conversation died down a bit. He walked over to Raquel and shook her hand, introducing himself to her as well. "Okay everyone… these two people are here to help us… They've dealt with The Cult before and want to lend a hand in case they come back." He stepped beside me and put his arm over my shoulder, "This is Bam, and the lovely lady sitting there with the kids is…?" Taking the hint Raquel announced her name. "The two women sitting over there are Kitty and Teresa…" He continued "…And the three guys are Roy, Cheese, and Mike.". Any other time I'd have been on point in asking if he were serious about a guy's name being Cheese, but when I heard "Mike" all thoughts drifted to my dearly departed friend. It was then that it hit me… he had gotten away… he had escaped. Would I inevitably have to face him in the end? Or would I never survive to see him again? Either way… the outcome saddened me. I shoved the feelings I felt down as quickly as they had risen and no one was the wiser, except Raquel. She saw the pain on my face and showed me that she felt the same with a simple glance.

It was weird how many different bits of information could be given just by a glance. Mike had a look about him every time he looked at Kitty, and she had the same look, making it obvious they were a couple, or going to become one soon. Teresa and Cheese's stares were the same, but you could tell they had been married for quite some time because of the occasional death glares Cheese received every time he made a stupid joke or said something that could possibly offend. The kids though, they were a different story. I didn't know what to make of them. You could see broken hearts and bottomless pits in their eyes… that much I was certain… their parents' deaths had devastated them. The boy was obviously more affected by it and was crumbling. His sister, whom I wondered if she were his twin, showed a stoic type of behavior constantly. As if she were made of stone. Even with a gun pointed at her… as I looked back I remember he face never really changed from the time I first saw her even until now.

"Rob, what are their names?" I asked, pointing to the kids. "Oh, I figured you guys had become acquainted earlier. He's Tommy and his sister's name is Aria.". I nodded to them both but stood where I was, taking everything in. Teresa and Cheese were in their late 30's or early 40's and dressed like many people do in the area we were in. Both were white and I'd be willing to put money on the fact that they were probably from one of the nearby trailer parks, not to discredit them, but you could see things like that a mile away when you live out here. Mike was in his late 20's and Kitty was either his age or a little younger. They were both dressed like modern day hippies and even from where I stood I could smell the weed cloud they emitted. Mike was a white guy with brown shoulder length dread locks and Kitty in a way… was almost identical to Raquel in appearance… just some age and different clothing added to the mix. Roy was an older man, probably in his 50's or 60's. He was wearing an old military uniform… looked like it was probably Vietnam era or so. He sat there smoking a cigarette and continuously eyed me and Raquel… untrustingly. Which wasn't uncommon for men from that war. I'd had a lot of friends who's parents had been in it along with just older friends I'd had who'd also been there. Mistrust just became part of their nature. His face was clean shaven and his hair was cut real close to his scalp. He had age on him that years alone didn't place. Only trauma could do that to a man… and not just the war, you could see it in his eyes he had lost someone to this god damned plague.

After my general looking of the room, I called Rob over. "Whats up?" He asked. "I wanted to discuss my plans with you. They could be coming any time… we don't know. I'd like to get started as soon as possible." He nodded and called for everyone's attention. Once the room was quiet he asked me for the rundown, which I gave.

It took a whole of ten minutes to explain the ideas, and for the most part it seemed everyone was into the idea. We opted to rest for a bit and get to work as soon as everyone was ready. I began walking over to where Raquel was but stopped when I heard Roy call for me. Taken by surprise I looked at him questioningly. "Yeah, I mean you kid… get over here.". I walked over and sat down in the chair in front of him. He drew in the last hit of his cigarette and dropped it on the ground, smashing the butt with his boot. He went to pull another cigarette out of his pack but saw that it was empty. I quickly pulled mine out and handed him one, taking one also for myself. "What's your story then, kid?" Roy asked me, lighting his cigarette then following up with mine. "What do you mean?". "What brought you here?… we've all got a reason or another. What's yours?". I sat there for a minute, thinking. He continued to look at me, waiting for a response. I sat, waiting for his sought after response to come. I didn't exactly know where to begin… I'd never been the type to be able to tell someone the story of my life, which is ironic in the sense that I'm a writer, but it was sadly true. I could tell someone else's story all day long… but not my own. With no other way to do it, I simply began from the beginning. It seemed as if it took forever to tell it, but strangely enough, it helped.


	23. Chapter 23: Bitter Tales

**Chapter 23: Bitter Tales**

After I finished telling Roy of all the things that had transpired, he sat there staring at me. He had a different look in his eyes now when he looked at me, I just wasn't sure what it was. "It seems you've had a hell of a week there, kid." He said, to which I nodded. "What about you Roy? What happened to you?". He sighed. "I guess that's a fair trade, isn't it? You told me… I guess I'll tell you…" Seeing the stress lines in his face, just from thinking about it, I pulled a cigarette out and handed it to him. He took it gratefully. He took a look around him, almost as if making sure no one was eaves dropping, and lit it. Blowing out the first hit, he sighed again and began.

"When all of this started… Me and my wife Gloria… We were at home. We didn't watch much TV and we lived out in the boonies so the situation wasn't as obvious to us as it was for you. I know that little town… Midland you come from. My son lived there. We lived farther out… towards Stanfield, you know? It wasn't until he knocked on my front door that we knew anything was wrong. That had been day one of the infection in NC. I remember when he came in, blood caked his clothes and I had been concerned… I hadn't known what was goin' on. I thought he'd done killed a man. I've killed many men… for that matter… I've killed many people… that's all a part of war. I just never wanted that for my son. When he walked into the house with all that blood… Gloria threw a fit somethin' fierce. She took him on in the kitchen and helped him get cleaned up. My son's name was Roy Jr. He was about your age. I remember followin' them into the kitchen and my wife trying to ask him what had happened. All he kept sayin' was "They're comin'…". It chilled me to the bottom of my soul when he said those words. I went back into the livin' room and turned the TV on to find that they were talkin' bout some Virus makin' people sick… makin' 'em violent.. Makin' em crazy. I watched for a few minutes… listenin' to them ramble around in the kitchen. It was then that I heard my wife scream. I got off my chair and rushed into the kitchen… my son…" Tears welled up in his eyes and his voice got shaky… he must've noticed it because he quickly shook it off and cleared his throat.. Then he continued. "My son was layin there… Dead as a god damned door nail. It broke my heart. Gloria… she was on the ground with him… holdin' him. Cryin' up a storm. But all I could do was stand there… At first I thought I was crazy… I had thought I saw his finger twitch. I walked over to the linen closet in the corner of the livin' room to get a blanket to cover him up. In the space of 30 seconds… my wife went from cryin' to screamin'. I rushed back in and my son, he… he was biting her neck. He tore out a chunk and blood spewed everywhere."

Roy's eyes threatened to well up in tears at the mere mention of his wife's death at the hands of his own son. Though his voice wavered… not a tear fell from his eyes. I sat there, entranced by his story. "Hell… after that. I got my guns and came on up to the school.. I used to be the Janitor here.. Always liked it. I figured if I was gonna hole up somewhere.. I wanted to be somewhere I loved to be." He sighed. "Sad thing is… I don't feel no better bein' here than I did at home… I still see it every time my eyes close." At this a single tear dropped from his right eye. I watched it as it slowly made its way down the ruins of his stress worn face. It made me want to cry too.

As he wiped that solitary tear from his chin, I felt the heartache I had suppressed for these past few days well up and threaten to consume me. I felt the harsh pain tear through my very soul as my ragged breathing persisted. I felt almost as if I would die, sitting in that chair in front of Roy. I had to get out of here. I had to be alone for a minute. I had to clear my head.

I stood up and walked past all the cluttered noise of so many voices melded together and through the library doors. I thanked the heavens above that those voices didn't follow me. I treaded down the hallway towards the bathrooms at the very end, right before you would get to the adjoining hallway that led to more classrooms. I walked through the doorway and into the bathroom which was one of few that almost seemed as if it was still in the same state it had been throughout all the years the school had been instated. I stopped in front of the sink and threw cold water onto my face, hoping it would shake me out of this madness.. This delirium. But as I looked up into the mirror, I was greeted by a face that I didn't recognize. I was staring into the eyes of a mad man. I screamed as I saw it and threw my fist into the mirror, smashing it to hundreds of pieces and slicing my knuckles to shreds. The blood flowed freely over the reflective bits that now littered the floor, and I fell against the wall. Sliding down slowly. I began to shake. Everything was blurring together… nothing was making sense. I opened my eyes wider, trying to shake the blur, but all I could see was the cascading of lights all around me… bouncing against the walls as if being reflected from a large pool of water. I could almost smell the brine of those dark creatures waiting in the waters… waiting for me to fall in so they could have me… tear me to pieces.. Eat me alive.

As I sat there, I heard a voice call out for me. It was familiar but unplaceable. I knew it, and it knew me… I just couldn't identify it. It was then that the blurriness began to subside and I realized who the voice belonged to. Raquel. She was on the ground in front of me with a panic stricken look on her face. What was happening?

She was screaming at me, telling me to say something. I tried. But nothing emitted from my vocal chords except a strained grunt. Roy was here too, now. I could hear them both clearly now. Raquel was busily wrapping my hand. I couldn't feel the cuts… but I felt the pressure of her hand and the bandages. It was comforting. The nightmares were subsiding. Roy was shining a light into my eyes and it hurt. It felt like a thousand needles were being jabbed into the retina at once. "Follow the light with your eyes, son. Come on now… I know you can do it.". Son. That's why I felt close to Roy. He reminded me of my Dad. I followed the light with my eyes… no matter how much it hurt. I had to let them know I could hear them… I was terrified that if I didn't they would leave me to the monsters.

Raquel left suddenly, Roy having sent her on an errand of some sort. I heard no exchange of words between them.. I had been to transfixed on following the light. She wasn't gone long before she returned with a wheel chair from the nurse's office. Roy got me up and the hefted me into it. I sat there staring ahead of me. My head felt weird. I lifted my hand up and put it where the uncomfortable feeling was being emitted. I touched the spot and it was wet. I pulled my hand away and back into my field of vision to find it red. In utter confusion and the continuance of my state of shock, I blacked out.

I slept then. I slept as I hadn't in days. My sleep brought no dreams. No nightmares. Only serenity….


	24. Chapter 24: Phantoms

**Chapter 24: Phantoms**

_Screaming…_

_I was awakened by screaming. I jolted awake on the makeshift bed I had apparently lain to sleep on. I blinked erratically, as if trying to shake dust or ashes.. that's it. They were ashes. Everywhere, everything was covered with ashes. Getting subtle little glimpses, this was my first thought upon awakening. Well, that and, "Where the fuck am I? Silent Hill?" Followed swiftly by: "Fuuuck… I hope not."._

_The room in which I resided seemed to be nothing more than a burnt out husk. Nothing was recognizable. No. I didn't know this place at all. I stood. Shakily at first, as if I hadn't stood up in ages. Gaining my equilibrium as quickly as possibly, I plodded over to the window, which was now nothing more than an open hole in the wall beside me. As I looked outside at the unfamiliar landscape; I noticed something. Ashes weren't falling outside, No, it was raining. But the rain… the rain was black. Black as if it had simply become one with the previously falling ashes. Black rain. Something deep within the recesses of my mind clicked at the thought of it. It was quickly accompanied by the strongest and strangest feeling of déjà vu._

_I stared out that window… that hole, for what felt like ages. The landscape I was seeing was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was like I had stepped into Fallout 3, just closer to the time the bombs actually fell. That, and it wasn't night time… I could feel it. As if my internal clock was still ticking, that ever fluorescent flicker of light we call the human soul, were telling me it looked wrong. But the skies were dark. Stormy and dark. The lightening was strange too. It didn't flash… not exactly anyway. It was black… almost as black as the rain. It almost looked as if Satan were reaching across the plains of existence… his black mass just scanning the land for the next soul to steal. The lightening was just a black negative energy that transferred from cloud to cloud in an arc of never-ending negativity. I couldn't explain it, but it was terribly alluring._

_I suddenly heard a knock coming from below me. The front door. I looked down from the window, hoping I could catch a glimpse of this mysterious visitor. But to no avail… My vision was blocked. I slowly exited the room. Like my footsteps, my heart beat was excruciatingly loud. I could feel them both keeping beat with each other. I trotted down the stairs slowly. Trying to keep as quiet as possible. I didn't even know why silence was an issue. Just something in me kept telling me to tread carefully… and I was filled then, with an ominous and terrible, unshakable sense of dread._

_I neared the door. The knocking continued. More persistently now. I got closer, my hand now reaching for the knob. I suddenly realize I'm no longer in control. My mind screams at my hand to desist… to stop.. Its now begging. The dread becomes worse. My heart thumps. Thump. Thump. Thump. Now keeping time with the incessant knocking. My hand clutches the doorknob. It begins to turn. ThumpThumpThump. My heart beats faster. "What the fuck am I doing?" My mind continues to ask. The door is opening. Slowly. Painfully slow. The door opens. Suddenly an all too familiar pinprick sensation harasses my eyes. A blinding light awaits me on the other side of the door. Human shapes begin to form as black masses. They're coming closer. The dread comes back._

I jolt awake. I look around me. I am in the nurse's office of Central Cabarrus High School. I look up and instantly notice Raquel sitting in the chair at the desk, sleeping peacefully. I smile and quietly get up, trying not to disturb her. I walk over to where my vest had been laid out over a chair and I pull my pack of cigarettes out of the pocket. I notice my hand is shaking as it retrieves the aforementioned item. My nerves are still shot from the nightmare. I pull one out and flick the lighter. I watch then end of the cigarette turn orange and I inhale the soothing nicotine-filled smoke emitting from the filter. I suddenly feel a lot better. Save for the worst headache I swore I'd ever had in existence. I put my hand to the left side of my head and felt gauze and bandaging tape. It all suddenly came flooding back to me. I had gone into the bathroom and broken the mirror… after that I couldn't remember much of anything. So maybe not all came flooding back.

I continued smoking my cigarette in silence. Normally I hated silence, but this silence was euphoric. I loved it. I just wish I knew what in the fuck had happened to me. Had I been hit that hard back at the psycho-house? Figuring that must have been it, I settled my mind on the subject. Trying to go back to enjoying the silence.

Raquel suddenly stirs. I wait to see if she wakes up, but quickly see she was just fidgeting in her sleep. I wondered then what she was dreaming about. I prayed then. Prayed she wasn't dreaming like I had been. I put my cigarette out and grabbed the blanket from the makeshift bed they had made me utilizing the oh so comfortable gym pads. I pulled the blanket over Raquel and made sure she was comfortable. I laid back down on the bed and pulled one of the sheets over me. I stared at the ceiling. I thought of the dream. Wondered what it had meant. My eyes continued to watch the ceiling. My mind continued to wander. I finally closed my eyes, hoping the blackness would lull me to sleep. Eventually it did. I didn't dream this time. I just slept. God had mercy on me, for he knew the things that were to come… he knew things none of us would ever even fathom. When I did dream, seldom throughout the night. I dreamed of phantoms. Phantoms of a time, now long past. Phantoms of a time we'd never regain. It was a horrible, terrible, and sad thing to behold. It struck me strong within the confines of my imagination. It buried itself in my heart. I saw the faces of all those I had love and lost.

I thought at one time I even saw God… but then I reminded myself… God had no place here…


	25. Chapter 25: Down With The Sickness

**Chapter 25: Down with the Sickness**

I ended up getting another nap in before a knock on the door woke us. I jolted awake and grabbed the butt of my pistol out of habit. But once I heard Rob's voice on the other side, I eased up. Raquel slowly sat up, stretching like a cat. I smiled at that. She didn't look sick as I had noted she had last night. "Alright guys, we need you in the library. We have a problem on our hands." Rob said through the door. I told him we'd be there in a minute and he walked away. His footsteps echoed eerily through the empty hallway. "Jesus Christ…" was all Raquel could say. I had to agree with her. It seemed like everywhere we went, more trouble came about. It was getting to be annoying.

We got ourselves put together and exited the nurse's station, walking across the hall to the library. We found everyone sitting at the center table, a paper coffee cup in their hands. I walked over to the machine and poured a cup for myself, Raquel had declined the offer for a cup herself. I held the cup in my hands and felt that the coffee was lukewarm. I tilted my head back and swallowed the contents of the cup in one gulp. I crumpled the cup and threw it in the trash, I suddenly felt the caffeine rush through my veins. It was a strange sensation, from feeling alone I could've sworn I'd just snorted 20 lines of Columbia's finest. Caffeine was never that strong to me, but I guess having a lack of it the last few days, my tolerance level went out the window.

I sat down beside Raquel at the table and Rob finally came in to talk. "Alright. I'm going to cut to the chase here. We're low on medical supplies. Dangerously low. After the medical emergency that Mr. Bam here had yesterday, I ran a check on our inventory… we aren't as well off as I had once thought.". "And?" Theresa said with a hint of sarcasm to her voice. Apparently her and Cheese had been at it again. "And…" Rob continued "We need someone to go on a supply run.". Everyone at the table looked at each other in dismay. All except me, Raquel, and Roy. I looked at Raquel, and she nodded to me, answering my question before I even asked it. "We'll go." I raised my hand. "You sure that's a good idea, Bam?" Rob asked. "Yeah, man. We're good. Me and Raquel have more experience with these things anyway. Best to send someone who knows what they're doing, right?" Rob nodded. "That's fine. Anyone want to go with them?" I stopped him right there. "No one else needs to go. We need to be inconspicuous, and its easier with just the two of us. No offense. I don't want to risk anyone's life that doesn't need to be. Roy wanted to fight my decision, but I think he saw the sincerity in my eyes. "Well, Bam, Raquel… Thank you for volunteering. Cheese and I went outside earlier and did some tune up work on the car you came in. It'll run better than it had.". Picking up the fact that he had figured Raquel and I would volunteer, I nodded my head in acceptance. Raquel and I quickly got up and went back to our quarters to load up.

When we got back to the library, they had made out a list of necessary items that we needed to look for. Pain meds for the most part, first aid supplies, stuff to fight infections, Ect., Ect. Raquel grabbed the list and shoved it in her pocket. With that we waved our goodbyes and headed out of the door. As we exited, we saw the crazed woman standing outside of her trailer, watching us leave. She still fucking bothered me. It didn't help that she looked like a fucking maniac watching us leave like that. But there was something I didn't like about her, outside of the obvious bat-shit crazy bit.

We made our way to the car and got in. As we were getting ready we had decided to hit the CVS that had been built about a month prior to all of this. It had just been stocked so it should hold some pretty good loot within it. We also talked about swinging by the National Guard armory a bit farther down past Central to possibly resupply our ammo. Right now our ammo situation was fine, but depending on how the trip went was the answer to whether or not we would risk the raid.

We exited the parking lot and drove onward towards the 601 exit ramp. As we drove down the empty highway, we saw the same debris littering the road and its sides. There was, however, a new decoration added, which was a man in a suit had hanged himself on one of the road signs. His reanimated body swung to and froe trying to escape its bonds. It was sad, but subsequently adorable how he swung himself. It was then that I realized we were becoming too desensitized to our surroundings. Strangely enough it was starting not to bother me as much.

After we passed the hanging man, we saw that the old trailer park had finally stopped burning. It was no longer a neighborhood, more like a parking lot. But after seeing the hanging man, and the leveled neighborhood, the scenery seemed to level out. We saw nothing else peculiar on the highway. But just because we didn't see anything, didn't mean something didn't see us. I just couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched. Just when this feeling was beginning to peak, Raquel swerved the car to the side of the road, had her door open, and sprinted behind the car before it even came to a complete stop. I opened my door and ran out behind her to see what was wrong. As I rounded the corner, I could hear her retching. When she was finished she fell against the car, trying to catch her breath. "Raquel, What happened? What's wrong?" I asked her. But she just put her hand up and shook her head trying to signify that she was fine. I put my arm around the small of her back and helped her walk over to the passenger side of the car. I then sat her down as gently as I could. I reached back on my web belt and pulled up the canteen, handing it to her. She took it and drank deep. She handed it back to me after a few gulps and finally said, "Lets go.".

I ran around to the driver's side and jumped in. We continued on down the road. She wouldn't speak the entire way to CVS. I stopped trying to ask any questions after my attempts were shot down with silence. It wasn't until we pulled into the CVS parking lot that she spoke. "Raquel, What's wrong with you?" I asked her. She seemed to not want to answer me at first, I felt my heart drop a little. "I don't know… I've been feeling sick for a couple of days… I just haven't said anything."… I opened my mouth to speak but she put her finger to my lips to shush me, "Before you ask… No, I haven't been bitten. If I had, I would've changed by now. Its something else.". Taking the hint that she didn't want to talk anymore about it, we sat there so she could collect herself. Finally she got out and opened the back door so she could grab her shotgun and backpack. I followed suit and grabbed my remaining pistol and M4 from the back seat. Before I shut the door however, I saw a glint of silver from the periphery of my vision. It was the .32 revolver my dad had given me. It had been his Dad's before him. I had taken it from the house because of its sentimental value, but now that I saw it, it began to bring back fresh, painstaking memories. Before shutting the door, I looked at it again. After feeling the memory resurge again to the surface, I shut the door. We walked forward in silence to the front doors of CVS. The building was dark. I pulled my M4 to the front and turned on the TacLight. Raquel used her machete to pry the automatic doors open enough to put her hands threw and open it. After that, I took point. I walked through the dark doorway and scanned the light over the immediate room. Nothing moved. Raquel shut the doors behind us. I helped her pull down the metal shutters as well. If anything was in here, we'd just take care of it hopefully. We weren't but a stone's throw away from the newly instated Church of the Maniacal, and I didn't want them to sneak in on us. The last thing I wanted was a cannibal, not to mention a fucking group of them, sneaking up behind us.

We made our way through the building, first we went across the front of the store so we could get a good look at the store in its entirety, shining the light down the long aisles. As we searched, we saw nothing move, and subsequently heard nothing as well. I heard Raquel falter behind me and I quickly turned to see what was wrong. I found quickly enough that she was getting sick again. When she was done, she grabbed a travel package of Kleenex from the counter and tore it open, dabbing her mouth to make sure she was clean. As she cleaned her face, I saw her eyes widen. I almost turned around expecting to see a horde of zombies behind us, but quickly realized her eyes hadn't widened over something in her field of vision, it was more of an epiphany. Before I could ask her what was up, she brushed past me and headed down the aisle in front of us. I followed closely behind her.

After checking each sign, she finally stopped at an aisle and began searching its contents. I kept a watchful eye about us. She finally struck pay dirt and grabbed a box from the shelf. Before I could get a good look at what it was, she hid it away from me. "I need to use the bathroom… Stand outside of the door and keep an eye out, okay?" She said to me. I nodded and followed her to the far right corner of the store. She went on into the bathroom and I stood outside and waited. A thought occurred to me as I stood there, and I reached into my web gear and pulled out a suppressor. I attached it to the barrel of the M4 and continued my watch.

Minutes went by, completely uneventful. No movement, no sound, no sign of Raquel coming out of the bathroom. I began to worry about her and decided if she wasn't out in a few minutes I would go in and check on her. About that time, a loud sound pierced the silence. Items falling from a shelf. I turned the light towards where the sound had come from only to find a solitary can rolling out from the end of the aisle. I began a tactful approach towards the aisle, being as silent as possible. Aiming the light at the ground in order to make sure that no potential unfriendlies would see it before I wanted them to. As I neared the aisle, I began to hear ragged breathing. My heart continued to hammer in my chest. I could almost feel it bursting through its fleshy prison. I reached the end of the aisle, and held my ground before turning and facing what awaited me. The breathing still being emitted, now accompanied by mid-high pitched guttural wails. I held my breath and turned my gun on the assailant. As the light shined into its eyes, it hissed at me. My eyes went wide as I saw what it was. Long stringy blonde hair fell down across its face, and the light reflected from the pupils as if it were a dear. I couldn't identify its sex, but it definitely wasn't happy I was in its presence. As the hissing stopped it began to lunge at me. I squeezed the trigger and blew its head apart. It fell to the ground. About that time, a hand touched my shoulder and I almost screamed, until I turned around and saw Raquel staring at me.

Her eyes were full of both sorrow, and hope. It was a strange combination. Before I could ask what was wrong, she held a white stick up to the light. A pregnancy test. Not only a pregnancy test, but a positive test. At a loss for words, I just stared from the stick, back to her. "Is it his?" Was all I could ask. She nodded. A single tear fell from her eye and she fell into me. I slung the rifle behind me and put my arms around her as she wept. I realized that I didn't like that we were out in the open as we were, so I guided her behind the pharmacy counter. I sat her down against it, and I checked the room. I locked the door and pulled the shudders down over the counter before I sat down beside her. She was no longer crying, just staring down at the test as it sat in the palm of her hand. I sat down beside her and grabbed her other hand, trying to enforce the idea that everything would be Okay. Sadly, I couldn't lie to her. Instead I held it just trying to comfort her. She squeezed my hand hard, I could feel the heartache that she felt as well.

Finally she asked me, "Do you think he's still alive?". I sighed before answering. A memory struck me like a sack of bricks. I knew his fate and I knew where he was. His body laid in its final death in the parking lot of K-Mart. I had shot him before I went in to save her. I had dragged him away from the door in hopes she wouldn't see it. I didn't want her to have to see it. It wasn't right. Even though they weren't together, I knew she loved him still. I opened my mouth to tell her, but silence was all that came forward. She understood, all-too-well what that silence meant. She broke down in tears again and laid her head on my shoulder. It hurt me to see her like this. It hurt even worse to know I had put a bullet in his head. I know he had already been changed, but it still didn't feel right.

She ended up crying herself to sleep and though I couldn't sleep, I didn't move from my spot. I knew she needed me to be here now. She needed the warmth and comfort that I apparently gave her. I sat there in silence, letting her rest. I wondered what would come of it all. I wondered if everything would be Okay after all. Even though I knew the answer, the human side of me still stuck to blind hope. For once in my life I didn't try to fight it. I let myself be consumed by it. It was better that way than the alternative. Eventually, I fell asleep as well. We stayed there, huddled under the counter. We didn't dream that night.


	26. Chapter 26: Killers Killing Killers

**Chapter 26: Killers Killing Killers.**

I was awakened by the sound of shouting. My eyes grew wide as I bore my hearing, trying to make out even a single phrase. I didn't have to listen too hard to know that whoever they were, they weren't dropping by to say "Hello". Soon after the shouting, I heard a gunshot, and the subsequent crashing of a window. I woke Raquel as quickly and quietly as I could and helped her move. She didn't look well. I found a cabinet along the back wall she would be able to hide in and helped her inside. She looked at me as I went to shut the doors, her eyes pleading for me to get in with her. I shook my head. There wasn't room. I whispered to her, "Just stay here. Don't move. If someone opens this fucking cabinet, and they aren't me, you put a fucking hole in them. Got it?" She nodded and tears welled up in her eyes. I knew what she was thinking. I wasn't going to make it back. I knew it, because I was thinking the same thing. I didn't know how many of them were out there, and I didn't care. If they wanted her, they had to go through me. I had plenty of bullets to go around, but they did too. After learning of her pregnancy, I realized how much more important her life was than mine.

I crawled over to our bags and began to pull out our guns and ammo. I wanted to get a general idea of what I had to work with. Upon emptying the bag of its contents, I discovered a pleasant surprise that Rob or someone must have placed: 3 grenades. Two were normal run-of-the-mill pineapple frag grenades. The other however, was a white phosphorous grenade. I had seen them at my uncle's house when I was younger. They were illegal to be possessed by civilians, but the laws didn't exactly apply anymore, so I didn't give a fuck, they were a godsend.

I listened intently as the interlopers struggled with the metal shades. Eventually they got fed up and brought out what sounded to be the fucking Jaws of Life. It wouldn't of surprised me considering that if these were in fact the cultists, there was a fire station right across the street from the church which had obviously served as a new home base since our raid on their little set up within the mall. The mall. How in the hell had we survived that? Mike was the only one of us with military training and a very large quantity of the cult had been military. We were outnumber at least 10 to 1.. But we survived. Why would that be any different now?

With newfound hope in my heart, a plan hatched in my head. I got one of the frag grenades from its holster and held onto it. I was going to let them get inside of the store and about halfway in before I tossed it in amongst them. Hopefully it would level the playing field enough for some tactical silenced shots and maybe I could handle this before they knew what hit them. Seemed sound enough, but what if I failed? I couldn't think like that. The decision was made. I grew up my entire life being taught how to be a man. I learned that you can't live your whole life in fear, and you damned sure don't let some stupid little punks make you hide behind a fucking clerk's counter. I know from the books I've read and movies I've watched how quickly a little group like this could spread and have a region by the balls. If in-fact we decided to stay at the school, then the situation needed to be dealt with. "Fear is not for me. Fear is for my enemy." I said as I picked up my M4 and checked the ammo. My family was deep in several things. Above all we were Soldiers and Gamblers. Some fought for the country, and others fought for a patch. Soldiers nonetheless. I let the M4 fall to my side and I pulled the grenade up. At this moment everything was still. Everything was silent. It was serene. Almost dream like. In the distance I could hear the jaws going to work on the metal door. I heard the whoops and hollers of victory as those on the opposing side of the door gained their entry to what they hoped to be their next big pay off. If only they knew what awaited them on the other side.

Finally they busted through the door. I pulled the pin and held the switch. I waited for the right moment. The grenade felt like it weighed a ton. I saw their shadows as they clustered at the entrance, helping their compatriots into the hole. The grenade felt heavier. They were all in now. They were coming my way. Their shadows filling a small void as the falling sunlight blasted past them. As the first one rounded the corner, the second one followed up. He was the one. He saw me first. As he did, the smiles on their faces fell. Mine grew wider. I cooked the grenade, taking pressure from the handle for a second, and I threw it. Time slowed down. I saw it fly for a second and hit the ground, then begin bouncing towards them. It was right in front of the first one when it exploded. The initial blast wasn't like I thought it would be. There was a flash of fire and everything around it flew into bits. At this point I hit the ground, avoiding the shrapnel. As soon as I hit the ground, the M4 was in my hand, cocked back and ready to fire. After I dropped, I heard screams. Many screams. Many of which turned to bubbled gibberish as the shrapnel tore up their insides. I jumped over the counter and slowly approached them. The first ones I came to, the closest to the explosion were almost unrecognizable as people. They were literally blown to bits. I saw about 4 bodies in pieces scattered about, but there were 2 more that hadn't been obliterated. They simply bled to death from puncture wounds. As I surveyed the gore pile in front of me, I saw a fleeting vision in the corner of my eye. Movement. One was still alive. I walked over to where he lay and pointed the barrel directly towards his face. "Why do you kill people? Why did you become what you are?" I asked him. My voice gravelly from the dryness it had taken on amidst the stress. He didn't answer. He cracked a smile and started laughing. Not laughing. Cackling.

"We came here to deal with you. The others… The others went to deal with the other problem." He finally said after the laughing fit began to subside. For some reason the mere thought that harm would come to the people inside of the school, it struck me. It emblazoned a fire of hatred within me for this poor, pathetic piece of shit laying here on the floor at my feet. I kicked him in the face, the steel toe of my boot smashing into his nose and breaking it on impact. I know it broke because I heard… No I **Felt** it crunch as the boot and his face connected. He almost instantaneously spit out a wad of blood and some kind of ichor. I pulled the rifle around and aimed it directly at him. "Alright motherfucker. I'm going to ask you one last time: Why in the fuck do you kill people?". At this, he sputtered, but couldn't speak. I don't know if his silence was brought on because of the hit or simply overall anxiety of the situation. Suddenly feeling sick to my stomach, watching him wriggle on the ground in fear; I decided I didn't want to know why all that bad. I squeezed the trigger and silenced him for good. I walked over the bodies of the fallen as I made my way back to Raquel. I opened the cupboard and helped her out as quickly as possible.

Together we packed two duffle bags full of medications, which pretty much cleared the small pharmacy, and we headed out the door with everything in toe. We stashed the meds, food, and water in the back seat. This time though, the guns stayed with us. We knew what we were going back to. We knew what waited for us ahead, but we couldn't leave them. In the marines they tell you to never leave a man behind. And that was the mind state we were in. We weren't marines, but we were soldiers. We were fighting for all that we had left: the air in our fucking lungs. These people took us in and helped us when we needed them. It was time to pay them back. Locked and loaded, we headed onward back to Central. We prayed we'd make it out alive.


	27. Chapter 27: War never changes

**Chapter 27: War never changes…**

As the center lines sped by below us, we kept our eyes ahead. Just on the horizon we could see our destination. We also so what waited there. Over 50 men and women stood armed in front of the school. They were moving in. Suddenly a glint of light caught my eye and I chased it back to the source. Cheese was on top of the building with his hunting rifle. The glint had been from Roy's scope on his battered M2 that he had no doubt held onto after his stint in Korea. He was on his way to a shooting position.

Every bullet cheese fired seemed to hit someone. The cult were shooting back but it seemed that cannibalism had taken a toll on their shooting prowess. By the time we were close enough to get a good eye on the situation Cheese was reloading as Roy continued to fire. The cult was getting reduced to nothing. The thought occurred to me that maybe they hadn't needed us after all. Suddenly Raquel smacked my arm. "What?" I asked, but I received no answer. I looked over at her and saw that she was pointing forward. She was in an almost trance-like state. As my vision cleared and I saw what she was pointing at, I slammed on the brakes. The car slid sideways and came to an abrupt halt, Raquel's passenger-side window gave us a view that made my heart drop.

Thousands of them. There were thousands of them stalking over the hill. Up to this point the infected people and zombies hadn't been a big issue. It seemed that God was making up for it. They covered the entire highway from side to side and even more of them were coming from surrounding neighborhoods. I turned the key to start the car but it sputtered. The engine wouldn't catch. Raquel and I met each other's glances and it was the first time I could honestly say that fear filled us. We weren't far from the school and if we could move at a good pace we'd make it there before the crowd. We'd have to shoot our way in if we wanted to make it. I didn't care what was wrong with the car, it wasn't like I had time to look under the hood.

We jumped out of the car and I grabbed the ammo bag, slinging it over my back. Raquel grabbed one of the duffel bags and we ran. Ammo and meds were necessity. We had plenty of food. We ran onward as fast as we could towards the school. We had a good run before the remnants of the cult realized where we were. The first shot fired whizzed by my ear and I returned fire. He went down in a spray of blood. His blood spray had been a Godsend. It shot into the faces and eyes of all around him. I pumped a few more rounds out and into the chests of a few of his friends, and they too, fell. They recovered quickly but faltered as the stench hit them. I continued to fire and I could hear the shotgun blasts from behind me as well. We managed to get past them and up to the main door of the school. Teresa opened the door and helped us in. We both ran over to the brick bench and collapsed, trying with all our might to suck in enough breath. Amidst our gasping we managed to explain what was coming. It wasn't much, but they took the hint. Teresa ran towards the library to tell the others what was happening and we remained where we were. I felt as if my body were made of rubber. The emotional and physical distress playing hell on my body. I turned my head to see that Raquel looked the same way I felt.

It wasn't long before Teresa and Rob came back to get us. Rob threw my arm over his shoulder and helped me walk. Teresa did the same for Raquel. We hobbled our way to the library and they sat us both down on the couch. By this point we had caught our breath and could move around more freely, it just hurt like hell to do so. Rob began pacing back and forth. Teresa looked terrified. "What in the fuck are we going to do?" Rob asked no one in particular. I was about to answer his question when Roy came walking through the opposite side of the library. Blood was all over him. "Oh my God man, what in the fuck happened out there?" Rob said as he advanced towards Roy. "Where is Cheese?" Teresa asked. Her voice quivered. Roy walked over to us and sat down on the coffee table in front of us. "We've got to get out of here." was all he could say. Teresa became hysterical. She was sobbing as she repeated her question, "Where is Cheese?". Roy looked at her but said nothing. He tried but his words hitched in his throat. He simply shook his head and looked at the ground. She fell to the ground crying. Roy opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of shattering glass. They were in. We all took evasive maneuvers and got behind the librarian's counter. All of us except for Teresa. I yelled for her to come but she didn't move. She just stayed on the ground, crying. The kids too, they were MIA as well. One of the cultists ran into the library and looked down the sights of his gun as he leveled it on Teresa. She looked up expecting to see her redeemer. She expected to see the man who would end her suffering. Instead what she saw was nothing but blur as a white hot pain engulfed her. The man fired once and killed Teresa. He went to load another round but his gun jammed. I continued to watch over the counter as the man became frantic. He backed away. He had expected to look down and see an easy prey, but when he finally got his sights focused, he saw the zombified corpse that had snuck up behind his victim. The zombie that now had its sights on him. As I looked closer, I recognized the zombie. The girl. The kid. She had hung herself. Close behind her shambled her also zombified brother. Both had nooses still hanging around their necks. The ropes were frayed at their ends where they had broke loose from whatever they had been tied to. The man continued to back up and in the same stretch, fix his jammed gun. But the brother and sister were quicker and were on him within seconds.

We watched it all unfold in awe. The spectacle in front of us was both alluring and appalling. The cultists stood in the hallways. They saw where we were, but they also saw what was inside. What had initially been a couple of zombie teenagers, quickly became a small zombie family. Teresa got up slowly but surely, eyes milky white, just like the rest of them. This man was the same. He got up slightly faster than her though. The kids in their blood dripping glory stood rather quickly, having already gone through zombification, they had less to do in order to stand. The kids advanced quickly on the mob at the opposite side of us. The other two paired off and went the other way. It was funny how this unfolded. In a world where the dead rise, you'd think they'd constantly be on your mind. This is a very untrue assumption. Life went on as usual, just the environment around us changed. With it, our moral codes began to waver. Then we turned on each other. The zombies. The infected. All they were was background noise. But the funny thing was, they had a tendency to disappear almost. Just lurking someplace, out of sight and out of mind. Then suddenly, as you're riding in the shit boat going down piss creek without a paddle, they had this opposing tendency to show up at the most inconvenient of times. The biggest inconvenience being that momentarily… you had forgotten they existed. Then it all comes flooding back to you. Way too slowly.

Because of the sudden surprise attack from the omnipresent plague, the marauding crowds subsided and backed away. It wasn't long until a call was heard from up front. The others had finally arrived. The cultists were boxed in. They were in a shitty and unfathomable situation, coupled with the mental deterioration that comes along with cannibalism, it got shittier from there. Their feeble minds broke. In one direction laid an opponent, though smaller in number, we had better guns. And who really wants to get shot, right? On the opposing direction, legions of the undead had closed in around them. Not to mention the 4 zombies that lay in the other direction as well. They were fucked. But we had a plan. We hadn't begun fortification yet, so all that stood in our ways at the opposite end of the school was a few bookshelves. The zombies hadn't made it around the entire building yet. We had a fucking chance.

We crept as stealthily as we could towards the entrance to the small "Senior's Courtyard", which then led to an outer hallway, which then led us to freedom from this shitty situation. We could throw shit against the doors so the fuckbag's wouldn't get through with us too. To us, they were worse than the zombies. Fuck, man. The zombies at least didn't get a choice in eating people, it just came with the territory, and zombies also didn't make your corpse into some grotesque fucking art show, or use your insides to make haggard fucking signs. Fuck them, we hoped they ate them slowly. We continued onward.

The screams began here.

We were at the doors now, opening them, we felt the cool damp air rush us. We ran onward to the doors across from us. The air around us was still, you could feel the charge in the atmosphere drop and suddenly, calm came over you. But as soon as we opened the doors, the screams grew louder. They grew horrible. As we ran across the hall towards the exit, we got noticed by the remaining cultists. Rage that their prey had gotten away ravaged by deep routed fear and sudden hope for an exit strategy. They ran for us. Almost foaming at the mouth. They ran. As Rob went to work on the doors, the rest of us opened fire on the angry mob. We could've just shot the locks but Rob had the keys, the idea was to lock the doors again, from the outside. I watched as cultists fell, and listened to the soft jingle of keys behind us as Rob fumbled for the right one. What took only seconds, felt like hours as we stood there, pumping round after round into them. A sudden whoosh of air flew in from behind us.

The door was open.

We all flanked the door and backed out quickly, shutting it just as fast, if not faster than it had rushed open. We all fell against the door as Rob through the chain in and locked it in. I looked beside us and saw the broken remnants of one of the concrete flower pots. I saw a long jagged piece of it. I grabbed it and threw it through the handles. Now they definitely weren't getting out. But as we looked around us, we saw that the dead were advancing fast. A periphery flash. I see a lone minivan in the middle of the parking lot. Rob points at it, "That's my van. We'll go in it. They key's in my hand, its unlocked. Just fucking run for it! " At that we bolted into action. If you had asked us a week ago if we thought we'd run for our lives this week. Our answer would've been, Fuck no. We were two stoners from the fuckin' boonies. We weren't built for this shit. But we did it anyway, as the adrenaline rushed through our veins, we ran onward to the van. All around us, mobs and hordes of zombies and infected alike, came after us. First the zombies shambled faster. Then, sprinters, infected, bolted out from them. The van was now only yards away. We ran faster. But Rob was lagging behind a little. He was holding his chest. He was having a heart attack. I saw him fumble and begin to fall. My heart shattered as I watched him fall. All hope felt like a dismal dead star now. But as I watched them fall, Raquel bolted in and grabbed the keys, running as fast as she could to the van. Roy and I stepped up speed and went from running to hauling ass. Roy got there first and slammed the side door open and jumped in. I jumped in the passenger seat and we were gone before the side door was even shut all the way. We sped down the old side road that led into Central from the alternate side of the school. Not knowing what else to do or where else to go, we headed right out of the parking lot and headed back to the main highway. We wanted to go the scenic route but more zombies were coming from that direction than the highway, so we took a chance.

When we hit the highway, we just kept on going. We headed on toward Harrisburg. We didn't know what to do, but we still had the medicine and our ammo. We still had our guns and our lives. We could find a place to settle once we were cleared of the mob. We had just survived something we'd have never dreamt possible, and we came out ahead. We were surviving. Of all the people to survive the apocalypse, we were reduced to two fuckin' kids in their 20's and an old man in his 60's. But we survived somehow. It became clear to us, that's all we needed to do. Survive. But where?


	28. Chapter 28: More Questions Than Answers

_A/N: This chapter will venture away from our heroes and their triumphs and tribulations. A little more about the virus and its origins will be explained henceforth. I hope you enjoy it. __J_

**Chapter 28: More Questions than Answers.**

_3 months after the assault on Central Cabarrus High School_

Professor Daniels stood at a large window overlooking the ruins of the city below him. Daniels had been a college Biology professor before he had been recruited by a joint venture between the United States military and the CDC. When he had been initially recruited he had been told that the research he was needed to be present for was Grade A Classified. He had even had to sign legal documentation that had legally binded him to his word of keeping his mouth shut. He had still been allowed to sleep in his own bed at night and they even provided him with 4 times what he had made as a college professor along with all the bells and whistles they could through in to sweeten the deal.

The city he lived in was of sizeable nature, but still as obscure as any other city in the deep south that didn't promote themselves as gambling capitols and such. The city was almost like the middle point between town and city. Though it had some large buildings whose walls were mostly made of large Plexiglas windows, there were still connected areas that still allowed for the privacy that the boonies offered. It was a strange little place. The only major role the town really had its hand in was the research he had been signed on to do. But the townspeople didn't know anything about it for sure.

The building he worked in was claimed to be a medical research lab, which in itself wasn't a complete lie. It just wasn't the whole truth. Medical research was held here, but it was in the fields of biological warfare. Something claimed to have been banned by some treaty or another, but was apparently still very much alive and well. The research hadn't seemed too bad at first, but then again, at first he hadn't been aware of what the ending results would bring. As he stared out of the window he watched the dead lumber about in the streets. There weren't many "infected" in the area anymore. Most of them had died off and fed the already large ranks of the undead.

Things had gone to Hell fast, that was for sure. They had been working on a viral agent engineered to react when in the presence of gasoline or crude oil fumes. Although Daniels himself didn't know much about the process itself, he knew it worked. He had seen it tested. The research had gone on for years before results were finally produced. Many people died, and to a few unlucky contestants, they realized there were things far worse than death. He had hated to see them succumb to it. He had never liked the ethics of what was going on, but he was held by contract to remain employed and to remain silent. In the United States, prior to the virus, the economy was in poor condition. The newly elected president had promised a change, but he was never given the time to allow his plans to play out. All Daniels had cared about was the fact that he had a job. He was able to provide for his family. But that was then, and now… Now the disease ran rampant through the streets and everything in the environment that it touched.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this…" Daniels said to himself as he stared at the burning hull of a city below him. The viral agent had a very short life time once it was released. It was only meant to immobilize enemy units within the vicinity of a mile or so at the very most. The consequences of their actions had not been foreseen. None of them knew the virus would go rogue and travel through blood and saliva of infected victims. Hell, even the raising of the dead had been a new outcome. It was severely unexpected for zombies to be born from it. The questions Daniels continued to ask himself simply floated away on the air around him. There was no one around to hear them. When everything had gone to Hell, he had escaped with a couple lab technicians and the CEO of the project. They had fled the building and gone underground into a bunker that had existed since the cold war. Last he recalled, the others were still there. He had fled from the bunker. He had received a call from his daughter and son. They were alive. He could feel it. His wife, he didn't know whether she was alive or dead, and to be honest he couldn't give a shit less about the cheating bitch.

Daniels had divorced his wife of 8 years almost 5 years ago. She had gotten custody and moved them out to the boondocks of southern North Carolina. He had only made it out to visit them a few times because of his hellish work schedule, but he knew where they would be. He knew many places they could be. He didn't know a lot about the area where they lived but he had driven the roads enough to have a basic idea of where he needed to go.

He, himself, was no scientist. He had been hired because of his knowledge of biology, sure. But he had never considered himself a scientist. He didn't understand any of the nonsense the world had come to, except for the only way to dispatch the enemy: Shoot em in the head. He clutched a picture of his children as a tear rolled down his cheek. "I'm coming for you. I promise." He whispered to the photograph. He folded it and tucked it into his pocket. He Walked around the desk that sat behind him and rifled through the drawers until they produced what he had been looking for: a 9mm pistol and a box of ammunition. The owner wouldn't mind them being missing, considering he was probably roaming the streets looking for flesh by this point. He had faintly recalled the man who had this office and only knew of the gun because it had been pointed at him. His high hopes hadn't been for nothing, he came away with his spoils.

As he exited the building and walked the streets, he looked around him for any signs of the infected. Seeing nothing he began looking for the closest working vehicle with keys in its ignition. Considering how many people had abandoned their vehicles in a hurry when the shit had hit the fan, he hadn't thought it would be an issue, but it was definitely becoming a pain in the ass. Suddenly, as he stopped near a small blue sedan, a stench assailed his nostrils. He took in a large whiff and his eyes widened as he realized what it was. The smell of rot hit him like a bag of bricks. They were coming, he had to hurry.

The sedan was fruitless, but he hadn't wanted it anyway. He wanted something that he could run an infected down with and it wouldn't fall to pieces. It wasn't long before a large truck came into view right outside of a house down the street. He began running for it, praying to God the infected didn't round the corner he was heading for. As he began to hear the footsteps plodding behind him, he picked up speed. Before too long he made it to the truck and tried the door. It was unlocked. He jumped in and shut the door behind him. He looked out the window at what had been trailing him and his heart began to thump out of his chest. "My God…" was all he could say as they came towards him. His hand ran across the ignition but felt nothing but air. "Fuck!". He screamed. Slamming his hands into the steering wheel. The truck jolted and something fell down onto his head. As the item fell from his head to the seat beside him, his hopes soared. Keys. He slammed the only double sided key (with a Ford logo on the grip no less), into the ignition and turned the key. The truck came to life and he quickly put it in reverse. As he backed up he could hear them slamming into its tailgate. He could feel something squishing under the tires. When he had backed out of the driveway, he put it in gear and sped onwards out of the city. The infected gave chase but before he knew it, they were well behind him. Onward he drove towards his children. He prayed to God he wasn't too late.


	29. Chapter 29: Down the Road

**Chapter 29: Down the Road**

Daniels' excitement over his newfound truck hadn't lasted long as it ran out of gas about 30 miles out of the city. He had checked the back for fuel reserve tanks but had no luck. All he found in the back was a standard tool box with all of the standard tools necessary to do the little odd jobs one might do around the house. The box itself wasn't heavy and considering that Daniels hadn't always had a cushy desk job, he knew his way around a tool kit. The only other mentionable item Daniels found in the truck had been a hunting rifle sitting upon a gun rack against the back window. It appeared to be a 30/30. He had taken a loose tarp out of the back of the truck and cut a strip off in order to make a makeshift sling for the weapon. The glove box had been locked and even using the truck key he couldn't get it open. As he sat in the truck, running ideas through his mind as to what he was going to do, he saw something sticking out from under the seat. It was a large wooden box. He pulled it free and set it on the seat beside him. Opening the box as quickly as possible he beheld in awe what surprises the box held.

30/30 ammunition, along with a .38 snub nose revolver and a box of ammo for it sat inside the box. His heart soared as he held the gun in his hand. It reminded him of the one his dad used to carry as a police officer. Aside from his police issued weapon, he had the revolver in an ankle holster as a last resort. He remembered admiring it then, as he admired this one now. The gun was loaded and the boxes of ammo were full. He slung the rifle in front of himself and began loading shells into it from the 30/30 box. He counted each one so he could at least try to estimate his situation, given he would have to use it. The rifle wasn't a quickly reload-able gun after all.

At final count, it held 12 rounds. He let the gun slide back around to his side as he got out of the truck. As he looked ahead, all he could see was miles and miles of road. Some of it clustered with wrecks and accidents, other areas clear and barren. He sighed as he began to trod his way down the road.

He came upon his first crash scene about a half hour after his walk initially began. He scanned the wreckage with a cursory glance but quickly turned away as he got to the opposite side. There was a body laying on the hood of one of the cars. The windshield and windows had busted or been blown out by the small explosion made by what had probably been a busted gas tank. He turned back to the body, intrigued by it. He had seen some bad things go on at the lab, but he had never actually beheld any of the corpses up close. That had been up to the orderlies. He was intrigued because the person wasn't laying on the hood because they were thrown onto it. The person had climbed out. He could tell they had been clawing at the hood, trying to gain leverage, because their nails had dug deep into the pain of the car leaving ragged marks that led back to the limp hands of a corpse. Daniels began to observe the accident in its entirety. The car with the person on the hood had been T-Boned by the other car. The other car's driver was thrown through their windshield and then through the window of the car it had hit. The other corpse, as Daniels looked closer, was laying on the legs of the person who had been trying to climb out before a random spark or whatever had caused the explosion took their life as well.

Daniels had never seen anything like it. He became sad as he beheld the tragedy that had unfolded. He could almost hear the screams of the victim, literally dying for help. Then Daniels suddenly realized that he could actually hear screaming. It was a woman. But it was coming from farther up the road. Daniels grabbed his rifle and began walking slowly forward with as much stealth as possible. As he got closer he could hear, not only the woman screaming, but the sound of several men laughing and insulting her. He also heard grunting. Rape. It was the first thought that ran through his mind, and as he got closer to the scene, he was sadly proven right. He had snuck up behind a car that had wrecked against the concrete construction wall that lined the road for several miles. He saw it happening through the window of the car. Luckily these marauders hadn't seen or heard him.

He pulled the hammer back on his rifle, not wanting to pull the lever for fear that the men would hear him. The first shot was all that counted in his opinion. The gunfire would alert them to his attention regardless if he dropped one or not. All he had to his advantage was the element of surprise. They outnumbered him 5 to 1. But he wasn't going to watch the woman suffer and stand idly by. Daniels had spent the last few years of his life working on experiments he was sure would damn his soul to Hell, if such a place really existed, and he felt it was time for redemption. Thanking God that he had chambered a round when he had initially found the gun, he pulled the hammer back slowly and laid the gun over the hood of the car, steadying his aim. He looked down the iron sights at the man who was committing the atrocity, then looked slightly to the front of him at the man holding her down. He decided to shoot him first. If he killed him, the man raping the woman would be otherwise occupied since he was fucking her and her bonds would be freed. She would likely fight back. The other three would be the problem. He would deal with them however he could, luckily he knew he'd hit what he aimed at. He used to have a hobby of target shooting. He was as close to marksman as one could get without competing for the title. He drew the bead on the man's head. Daniels pulled in a deep breath, then as he exhaled slowly, squeezed the trigger. There was an echoing boom that sounded like a crack of lightening. The man fell over backwards, the top of his head missing. The girl began to fight back. Daniels quickly turned his sights to the others and began firing. Within seconds the others were lying dead on the ground as well. But as Daniels sighted in on the last one, the bastard that was raping her, he saw the man pull a gun out and fire a round into the woman's head. She fell limp. He continued to thrust. Laughing at Daniels' attempts to save her. Daniels sighted in and fired. The round penetrated the man's left ass cheek and exited through the side of the man's dick. The man screamed and fell aside.

Daniels quickly strode up to the man and kicked the gun out of his hand. He pulled the .38 out of its holster and pointed it down at the man. "You sick fuck. And you thought you'd get away with it?" Daniels asked the man. Pure hate in his eyes. The man laughed, "I did get away with it. I came in the little cunt before you shot me." He laughed again. Daniels got a closer look at the woman and realized, she wasn't a woman. She was a kid. She couldn't of been more than 12 or 13. She reminded him of his daughter. A new fire ran through Daniels as he looked down at the man. "You raped an innocent little girl. I should hang you up by your feet and pour sand in your ass 'til the ropes break you fucking piece of shit." Daniels said as he stared at the man. The man spoke, but he wasn't heard. All Daniels could hear was his daughter's voice. Daniels felt the rage run through him. He wasn't finished with this guy yet. He had to take vengeance for her. He had to take vengeance for her father. He had to make this man pay. Daniels didn't shoot him. He ran his steel toed boot into the man's balls. He grabbed the man by the shirt and dragged his wriggling body over to the sidewalk. He flipped the man over so his face was on the ground. "Let me ask you somethin'. You ever see American History X?". Daniels said to the man. The man lay on the ground, pleading. Daniels pulled the revolver and pointed it at the man. "Put your teeth on the curb. Bite the fucking concrete." Daniels said in a monotone voice. The man continued to plead. "EAT THE FUCKING SIDEWALK!" Daniels screamed and kicked the man in his side. He complied. He whimpered. He was _afraid_. Daniels looked down at the man in disgust. He spit on him. Then, as the rage reached its pinnacle, he stomped on the man's head. He heard the audible crack of bones. He felt satisfaction.

Daniels walked away, unaware and apathetic as to whether the man would revive or not. He had done what he had to do. He continued down the road toward his destination. His children. His home.


	30. Chapter 30: As The World Burns

**Chapter 30: As The World Burns**

We had staked out the hospital for a while before attempting to go in. Surviving on the meager supplies left over from what we had escaped with after the slaughter at Central Cabarrus, we had stuck to the shadows. We kept to small, empty buildings. Occasionally, as luck would have it, these buildings would not only offer shelter from the elements, but sometimes even supplies. But as things wore on, the supplies began to run low.

I could see the worry in Roy's eyes as he counted the last of his heart medicine. He wouldn't last long without it. We all knew it. And through the small amount of time we had known him, we had grown to view him as a father-like figure. I had run the figures through my head thousands of times. We wouldn't make it much longer as we were. Raquel's pregnancy only proved to make things more complicated, though it had been unanimously decided that every protective measure to save the child would be taken. We had talked occasionally about possibly venturing up towards Virginia. Raquel had family there and it was sparsely populated. We simply didn't have the means to make the trip. The van's gas tank was only a quarter full and we couldn't risk getting stuck out there on the road, not with Roy's heart and Raquel's pregnancy. It would be too risky. That's why we eventually decided we would raid the urgent care center off of 51.

We had gone through the country and headed towards Mint Hill, where my family was. The original idea had been to hide out in my uncle's house. But we only made a cursory check before realizing if there were anyone left, they were either dead or dying. Zombies and infected roamed the lawn and driveway. My grandmother's house, which was in front of my uncle's appeared to have been besieged. I still had hope in their survival considering their car wasn't in the driveway. I held onto that hope. But I couldn't go there. Where revenge would usually boil in my blood, fear became the driving force. I felt like a coward, but it couldn't be helped. What life had been prior to all of this was dead for me. Everyone I had loved was gone. That life didn't exist anymore. Now I had enough to worry about.

Along highway 51, there were several houses, one of which sat across from the urgent care center. We laid low inside for a long time, watching, and planning. There had been a military convoy inside at some point, but it had long since been abandoned. Humvees sat outside, unused. The place was gaunt and empty. At night you could still see the bright red lettering of the electric "Urgent Care" sign as the bulbs would flicker. As time wore on, I settled on the decision. It was now or never. Roy was dangerously low on his meds and I wanted to see if the Humvees were in drivable condition. If they were, we could siphon fuel from the van and other vehicles in the parking lot, and possibly even get lucky and find more at the gas station just around the corner. But I wasn't pinning my hopes down just yet, nor were Raquel and Roy.

I stood there, staring out of the window at the building. Roy stood next to me, and he handed me a cigarette. "So whats the plan son?". I hadn't discussed the idea with them yet. I figured they would think I was crazy. "Come on boy, spit it out. We know you're planning something. You just stand at this window and stare at that Urgent Care sign all the time. Lets get our asses over there if that's what you want to do.". I looked over at Roy and he lit my cigarette. "Well, seems you've already come to an understanding with most of the plan. We need to run it by Raquel though." Roy put his hand up. "She knows too. She thinks it's a good idea. She's the one who sent me over here to talk to you. Whats our basic idea?" He asked before inhaling what seemed to be almost half of the cigarette in one hit. "I want to check those Hummers. They might still run. They might still have gas. They also might have some ammo. I figure we can go down there, check a couple Hummers, and possibly siphon some gas into one and make a break for Virginia. After going into the pharmacy of course." Roy stood silently for a moment before replying. "Sounds like a plan, son. You know she'll want in on this." I sighed. "I know. I don't like it. But I know." He grinned a little. "Go talk to her. I'll keep an eye on the situation at hand. We need to get this show on the road. My pills are running real low.". I nodded to him. "I know." as I walked into the bedroom where Raquel was.

When I walked in, she was smiling and rubbing her stomach. The smile was contagious. "Whats up?" I asked. "The baby's moving. I can feel it.". I sat down next to her. "I forgot you could feel it this early on." She just kept smiling and staring at her stomach. "Look…" I said. "I want to raid the urgent care. I want to check those Hummers and see if they work. Maybe we can make a break for Virginia if all goes according to plan." She looked up at me. "Alright." She said. "As long as you realize I'll be helping. I'm not so far along that I can't at least hold a gun." I nodded. "I figured as much. But you've got to be careful." I said. "This won't be easy. I know it looks quiet over there, but you never know what we'll find inside. You've got to promise me you won't go anywhere alone." She nodded. "I promise. When are we going?". "Now, if you're ready.". She nodded. "Give me a few minutes to collect myself. Then we can go.". I nodded and walked out of the room, allowing her time to so.

When she finally walked in, Roy and I were packed and ready. "We're heading over on foot. If the Hummers work, we'll come back and siphon the gas from the van. We can get the rest of our stuff then. Have your guns up and ready, just because it seems quiet over there doesn't mean its empty, we all know this by now." Everyone checked their gear and nodded towards me. "Move out." I said as we began our trek across the long yard.

We had very little cover to hide behind as we made our way over the grassy plain, so we did what we could to keep up a steady pace. With almost military precision, we made it across the lawn and over the road within a minute and a half. As we crested the hill and got a good sweeping view of the area it became abundantly clear that something strange had definitely taken place. We had expected pools of blood and bodies to litter the parking lot. We expected visions of absolute chaos. But we didn't. It seemed as though the soldiers had simply walked away from their post and never returned. As we crossed into the parking lot I decided to check out the situation on the first Hummer we came across. "Cover me." I said as I opened the door and checked the inside for anything suspicious. Nothing. The keys were still in the ignition. There were ammo caches in the back, and a radio that did nothing but blare white noise. I jumped into the driver's seat and turned the key, the engine roared to life. The gas reserves showed the needle was sitting on half. Considering the neutral level of the parking lot I figured it was an accurate reading. As I sat in the driver's seat, I could see across the lot and into the opposing Hummer. This would prove to be the first sign of what had taken place. I could see a man in military fatigues slumped over the steering wheel. In the seat next to him another soldier, this one a woman, lay with her head resting against the window. Her eyes were open but she wasn't moving.

I jumped down out of the Hummer and told Raquel and Roy to follow me and keep an eye out for unfriendlies as we made our way to the next Hummer. I opened the passenger door first and checked the situation on the body. No bite marks were visible, but she had been shot through the center of her forehead. It was strange because no blood streamed from the wound. As a matter of fact, there wasn't any blood to be found. I grabbed the woman over my shoulder and laid her on the ground and quickly took her previous position. As I got in, my first move was to push the soldier away from the steering wheel, as I did I heard the tell-tale moan of the undead coming from his vocal chords. I quickly jumped out and leveled my gun toward his head. With a quick three round burst, the man stopped moving. I ran around to his side and dragged him out of the Hummer. It was then that things became even more strange. He had been bound. His hands were tied together. As ominous as everything was turning out to feel, I quickly put my mind back to the job at hand. I climbed into the cab and checked the ignition. No keys. I jumped when suddenly the radio next to me came to life. All that could be heard was jumbled words and excess amounts of static. "Roy! Get over here!" I yelled. "See if you can make sense of what in the hell these people are saying. I got out of the cab and allowed Roy to sit inside. I walked over to Raquel to check on her. As I made my way to her a voice suddenly barked out an order, "Put your fucking hands in the air!" I looked up and saw three men, all in military fatigues. "Put the weapons down and walk over slowly!". I whispered to Raquel to take refuge behind the Hummer. I did the opposite of what they asked, leveling my gun at their leader. "No. First you explain to me what in the fuck is going on here soldier!" I barked back. I had noticed how shaky their hands were as they held their guns, aiming down their iron sights in my direction. If they did fire, chances were they would miss. But if I fired, I would hit what I was aiming for. "This is an encampment for the United States Military! Stand down civilian or we will put you down!" The ring leader spat. "We just want supplies so we can be on our way. We don't want any trouble." One of the other soldiers laughed and said, "Well, that's too bad, cuz you've found it." as he fired. I ducked behind the Hummer and heard the shots ding off of the other side. I could hear them closing in on our location and waited for the first one to round the corner. I quickly jumped up and put my revolver to his head, holding the man like a hostage. "I'd think real good about my next move guys. Unless you want his brains all over this fucking sidewalk.". Both Raquel and Roy watched me, stunned. "What makes you think we give a shit?" One of them said, with a smirk on his face. BOOM!. The man fell over dead, brains all over the pavement. I quickly pulled my other pistol and had my sights on both of them. "Do I need to tell you again?" I said. They quickly changed directive. "Okay, okay, fine. Just don't hurt us okay?". "Put your guns down and kick them over here. Now." I said. I didn't need to bark the order, they understood my severity at this point. I watched as the guns clacked to the pavement and slid across to me. "You want to tell me who you really are or am I just going to go with my gut instinct and kill you two fucking maggots too?" I asked. This time, the anger was thick in my voice. The men were silent. They stared at one another. I had my answer. "I know what kind of people you are. I could and I _should_ just kill you right here and now you sick bastards. But that wouldn't be the proper karma for you. One of them kept eyeing Raquel. Now that the situation was in my control, she had decided to stand. I saw the way he looked at her. It wasn't just the normal cursory glance you gave an attractive woman, there was blood lust in his eyes. "Raquel. Keep your gun on the fucker to the right." She quickly did as I had asked. I walked over to the one who had been looking at her. His mouth opened as if he were going to speak, but he never got the chance, the steel toe of my boot connected with his mouth and he fell over as the force knocked him off balance. "Mister, please don't hurt me." The man begged. Ignoring him, I suddenly went into a tangent. "I've come across your kind before. We all have. You aren't human. You're worse than those fucking zombies. At least they can't help what they do. You decided to be the way you are." The man was sobbing now. Pleading for his life. "Begging won't save you. Nothing can save you." I grabbed him by the collar of the fatigues and began dragging him over to the Urgent Care center's sidewalk. "Where are you taking him you bastard?" The other man screamed. I ignored him. Once we got to the rise of the sidewalk, I stopped dragging the man. "Bite the fucking curb you piece of shit.". The man pleaded. I stomped his hand and I could hear the bones crush beneath my feet. He howled in pain. "Bite the fucking curb." I repeated. Finally he complied. "Now stay put.". I turned around. "I want you to see this you worthless sack of shit." I said to the other man. "You killed soldiers in cold blood. You would have killed us if we had of complied. I want you to see deliverance.". The man watched in wide-eyed horror as I walked over to his friend. With one swift motion, I stomped the back of his head and listened as his skull cracked beneath the heel. "Nooo! You killed em' you bastard!" The man screamed. "Yeah. I did. And you're next.".

Once we had dispatched the other man, we dragged them away from the building. Raquel walked behind Roy and I as we did this. "You know, son. You're full of surprises." Roy said as we dragged the last body to the side of the building. "They were scum. They would have killed us.". "I know that." Roy replied. "But you went above and beyond.". "Roy…" I began. "If you had seen what we had back at the mall, you would understand my distaste for these… I don't even know what to call them. They damned sure aren't people. I wanted to stop them from inflicting on others what they had already done to God only knows how many people, before. But most of all, I wanted them to be afraid. I wanted them to feel how they wanted to make us feel. I can't explain it. But they got what they deserved.". "No question there. But how'd you know they weren't soldiers?" Roy asked. "I didn't. But what I did know was that they were cannibals. Didn't you see how shaky they were?". Roy nodded. "I remember watching 'The Book of Eli' and that's how they could tell if someone was a cannibal, if their hands were shaky. But I researched it to see if it was true. It was true. Its like the human version of mad cow disease. When you eat your own kind, the mind degrades over time. Uncontrollable shaking of the hands is one of the long term signs. They've done it a lot.". "Huh. Well, you learn somethin' new everyday I guess." Roy said. "Did you have any luck deciphering the message on the radio?" I asked. "No. Not yet. But since we're taking one of the Hummers, I'm sure it'll come back on the band.". I kept my silence as I thought for a moment. "I think one of us should stay behind. Keep an ear on the radio." Before I could continue, Raquel volunteered. I sighed, "I don't like the idea of you being out here alone.". "I can handle it. If anything happens, I'll lay down on the horn. The pharmacy can't be that far inside.". Understanding that she had a good point, and subsequently knowing that arguing would lead us nowhere, she would eventually wear me down, I agreed, if not slightly half-heartedly. "Roy. You are to stay in the lobby area. If that horn so much as fucking squeaks, I want you out there and handling the situation, understood?". He nodded. "Alright, Raquel, pick a Hummer, stay inside it, and keep the door shut. We'll be back in a few minutes." She sarcastically saluted me and went on towards the Hummer with the keys inside. I laughed a little and Roy and I made our way into the building.

Upon entry, we saw the pharmacy was actually set up behind the front counter, so luckily, we didn't have to split up. "Hey, Roy, come on back here with me and find your heart meds. I'll look for pain killers and the like. That way we can be in and out before too long. You okay with that?" He nodded and we stepped behind the counter.

Roy got behind the counter before I did, and as he rounded the corner to enter the room, he quickly recoiled. I soon realized why. There was a dead soldier laying against the back of the counter. He wasn't moving. But he had a radio attached to his uniform, and from it the same broadcast was being emitted, that we had heard outside, it was simply coming through clearer than before. We went on about our business, keeping our ears on the broadcast. In the space of a couple of minutes we had loaded everything we needed into duffle bags that were stuffed under one of the medicine counters. We were heading out when Roy put his hand up for me to stop. I could see his eyes glued to the radio. I began to listen along with him. He turned towards me, eyes as wide as saucers. Mine were probably the same.

"_All mobile units, you have T-minus One hour to evacuate the blast zone. I repeat, the quarantine has been breached. The major cities of Charlotte and Concord will be leveled. This is our final broadcast. Preparations for Tactical Nuclear Strike are being orchestrated as we broadcast. I repeat, One hour to clear the blast zone."_

We were stunned. It wasn't until we heard Raquel hit the horn that we were brought back from our state of unrest. We took our cue and ran for the front doors. As we exited the building we saw what the problem was. 7 or 8 zombies were closed in around the Hummer, Raquel was screaming. "Roy, lets kill these fuckers fast. We've got to get the hell out of dodge!" I screamed as we ran forward. Roy took on his kneeling firing position taught to him in the armed forces, I simply aimed and fired, careful not to shoot in the direction of Raquel's window. We dropped all but one, and he was banging away at the window. To our horror, we saw it beginning to spider-web. Then suddenly, there was an audible crash as he broke through it. He grabbed Raquel's hair and began pulling. I ran forward and slammed the butt of the gun into the back of the zombie's head. It fell to the ground. Blood caked the inside of the car from the hit. It lay on the ground, hissing as it found its footing. I quickly dispatched it with a single round to the head. Roy opened the passenger door frantically, "Raquel, we need you to drive. Can you do that." She simply nodded, still wide eyed from the attack. Roy jumped into the back seat and I jumped into the passenger side. Raquel had already heard the same thing we heard, so without having to be told, she drove as fast as she could from the parking lot and towards Highway 485.

We had made it out of Charlotte within the hour. We had dodged abandoned cars and people that were aimlessly wandering on the sides of the highway. Most of them were infected, the others, as cowardly as it may seem, we didn't care to find out. We were almost to Greensboro when we heard the explosion. We pulled onto an exit so we could be on higher ground. Knowing they were nuking Charlotte, we figured it wouldn't be long before Greensboro followed. Greensboro, suddenly stricken with the memory that Rusty had headed for Greensboro. In all this time I had forgotten. I hated to admit it. But I had. Too much was going on around me to be able to think clearly enough to simply survive, much less wonder how well someone else was doing.

My question was quickly answer as a second explosion rang out from the opposite end. I stepped out of the Hummer and looked out beyond the burning tree line, darting back and forth in both directions. I watched as what I knew of this world simply burned. The horizon was aflame as the dying cities burned to nothing more than scorched hulls. I felt a tear stain my cheek as I watched it unfold. Home. Home was gone. It hurt to be stricken with such a reality. But it was what it was. The places I had grown up in, the people I had known, all of it was dead and gone. I suddenly felt someone put my hand in theirs, I turned to see Raquel standing there. Sorrow and sympathy in her eyes. We held each other's hands tightly as I watched the world burn. I thought, then, about how quickly everything had happened. Less than a month ago, life was normal. Less than a month ago, I could see my family every day. Less than a month ago I had a home. Now, it was gone. All of it. Everything had gone up in a plume of fire and smoke. Raquel was all I had left of my old life.

We had done it. We had cleared the blast zone. We had survived to see another day. It was then that I realized that survival and living weren't two sides to the same coin. They were spectacularly unrelated. Survival meant that you were able to fight for another day. It meant that you were hopefully on the path to being able to live again. I didn't know whether I really even wanted to continue this existence. Not for myself anyway. But I knew I couldn't give up. As much as I wanted to just walk off the edge of the overpass and fall face down to the calm serenity of awaiting death, I knew that people needed me. Raquel needed me. Raquel pulled my hand and guided me back to the Hummer. It was time to go. It was time to find safety. We prayed we would find it. It was time to go forth toward Virginia.


	31. Chapter 31: Virginia Is For Lovers

**Chapter 31: Virginia is for Lovers**

We had passed into Virginia not too long ago. Raquel had been silent throughout the entire drive from that overpass on 85 to the point where we currently were, which, in my case at least, was completely unknown. Roy sat slumped over in the back seat sound asleep, we could hear the occasional snore or grumble from him as he snoozed. I watched the trees pass us by and welcomed the change in scenery. We had been able to fill up the tank and a couple of spares at a gas station we had come across miles ago. It had been a Godsend considering at the time we had been running on empty. We had raided the store for necessities, of which there were few, and commodities, of which there were even fewer. We were able to salvage some cases of bottled water, some canned fruits, a can opener, and plethora of cigarettes and lighters. We had grabbed a few other odds and ends but the cigarettes, like the gas within the pumps, had been a Godsend to Roy and I. Raquel had since dropped the habit on account of her pregnancy. Inside the store we had been greeted with the overpowering stench of rot. But luckily for us the majority of the smell wasn't from bodies. We actually only happened across two bodies, both had been workers of the gas station, and both were dead. Most of the smell came from the long spoiled milk, eggs, and other perishable items the store had in stock.

As we drove on through the forests of Virginia, Raquel began to slow the Hummer down. It wasn't until we broke through the trees and into a moderate clearing that I saw why. We were stopping in the rest stop Raquel had always talked about. She used to tell me stories about how her and her family would stop there no matter what every time they made a trip to visit her family. As we pulled in and crawled to a stop, Raquel quickly leapt out of the driver's seat and ran to the side of the truck. I jumped out and followed her to where I found her doubled over on her hands and knees, puking. "Morning sickness?" I asked as I helped her back to her feet. But when she looked up at me, I could see it in her eyes that something was wrong. "Whats wrong?" I asked. She just shook her head and walked towards the solitary building that comprised the rest stop. As we neared the building, which was actually less of a building than an out door structure, I saw we had hit pay dirt. There were two vending machines side by side in the middle of the structure.

I quickly strode up to them and using the stock of my rifle, I busted the glass out. "Its fucking full!" I screamed. Raquel, suddenly alive with our discovery mimicked my movements on the second machine. "Holy shit, this one too!". Smiling I looked over to her, "Run back to the truck and grab a duffle bag or something. Look in the trunk, there's probably a pack back there or something. Wake Roy's old ass up. He'll want to see this." Without even a question, she trotted off towards the truck. As I stared at the bounty we had just discovered, I became suddenly stricken with the idea that it was all too good to be true. We were on a major interstate, granted it was out in the boonies, someone should've probably raided it by now. Suddenly, I heard Raquel scream. I quickly turned and found Raquel struggling against a large man who was dragging her off towards the woods. I ran. I ran as fast as I could. "Drop her you son of a bitch! Let her go!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, but it was to no avail, the lumbering behemoth continued to drag her. Roy suddenly burst from the back seat and aided in my pursuit. Even with us running, the large man's stride was too much for us to catch up to him. I wanted to shoot him. I wanted to just shoot him. But the way he had Raquel, I couldn't risk hitting her accidentally. As the man dragged her into the foliage, Roy and I were suddenly surprised as two armed men jumped out in front of us. "Now where do y'all think yer goin'?" One of them asked, to which the other punctuated with the most stereotypical hillbilly giggle I had ever heard. Roy and I stood, staring down our sights at the two men. As we paid closer attention to detail, I began to notice little oddities about the two men. They reminded me of the guys from 'Wrong Turn'. "You inbred fucks better put those guns down now or we'll leave your rotten asses here to fertilize the fucking trees." I said. "Now come on fella's… We ain't gotta get off on the wrong foot here. Now y'all can kindly put y'alls weapons down and I'll even let y'all go. But yer woman's stayin' here with us." Roy and I looked at each other and sighed. And just as the hillbillies thought they had the advantage, we fired at almost the exact same time. They fell to the ground. "Roy, we gotta move or we're gonna lose them." I screamed as I ran on into the woods, figuring Roy would be right behind me.

As I found myself in the dense wooded area, I looked all around for signs of recent passage. My eyes finally fell upon a trail of fallen grass that seemed as though something, or in this case, someone was dragged across it. I followed the path for what seemed like forever before it opened up into a moderate clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a scant little shack. Smoke rose up from its chimney. I ran forward as fast as I could towards the shack. Suddenly, I heard Raquel scream. My eyes went wide and pure madness boiled through my veins. As quickly as possible, I kicked the door of the shack in and saw Raquel chained to a wall. The monstrous thing that had dragged her off stood in front of her, grinning. He hardly noticed my entrance. "Step the fuck away from her Sasquatch." I said. Leveling the rifle in the direction of his head. Seeing that he was showing no fear, I fired a three round burst into the back of its monstrous head. It didn't even falter. My eyes grew even wider at the sight before me. The behemoth roared in either rage or pain, I couldn't tell which. But he turned toward me and began stomping in my direction. Still in awe of the beast, I hadn't moved, the thing was quicker than I had thought, in the space of a second, it closed the distance and knocked me outside and to the ground. I tasted blood. I groggily began to stand up, and watched as the thing came towards me again. I looked to my right and saw where my rifle had landed. I wouldn't be able to reach it in time. I pulled out the machete and began backing up so I could give myself breathing room and time to think about how exactly I planned to bring this big bastard down with a glorified knife when a three round burst to his fucking head didn't so much as make him falter.

It was in fact human, I knew that much. It had distinctive humanoid features about its face, albeit the features were mutated, but they were there nonetheless. As it plodded toward me, I began to realize that at the current moment I was just as far away from knowing what I was going to do just seconds ago. No new ideas had surfaced. Not until I saw it bleed. It took a while, but eventually, I saw the blood begin to pour down its chest from the head wound. It was big and tough, but if it bled, it could be killed. I simply ran towards the beast, screaming an everlasting war cry as I did, machete held high above my head. Everything felt as if it had gone completely still, as if all life had simply ceased in this one moment. As I neared it, the beast began to roar. He swung his right arm up and was preparing himself for the fatal blow that would crush me out of existence. But as I neared him, I ducked down and hacked into the back of his knee with all the force I could possibly conjure. Its roar quickly turned into a scream of agony as its hands went straight to his ruined leg. The behemoth of a man, was now down on one knee. I pulled as hard as I could on the handle of the machete until it finally came free. I hacked again, and again, and again. Finally the thing's leg broke, blood sprayed the entire area. I could hear both the bones and cartilage of the thing's knee crackle and pop as they gave way under the weight. I swung the machete above my head, ready to deliver my final blow to end its existence when a sudden voice called out from beside me. "You drop that god damn knife right now boy or I'll blow your ass to hell!". I quickly turned and walking in my direction was who I assumed to be the father of these three abominations, trailing right behind him was his wife. They were much less disfigured than their younger counterparts, but you could tell inbreeding ran in the family. "We saw what you did to our boys you son of a bitch. We also seen what you was plannin' to do with our eldest one. I done shot yer friend. Ain't nobody comin' to save yer ass this time son. My eyes felt as if they were fit to burst from my skull as I felt the deep pang of loss deep inside of me. "You killed Roy?" was all I could say. "Yeah, we killed em. Left em out there for the animals to eat. We don't eat people who's past the expiration date, you see." The man said as he began to smile. His wife cackled at his joke. "Normally, I'd just wait and skin yer ass alive later. But you seem to be a resourceful lil' fucker and I'll be damned if I'm gonna chance you gettin' away. He pulled the hammer back on his lever action rifle. The click was the most audible thing in existence. No other sound would kill it. It just kept ringing through my head. I thought about everything then. In the space of a second, my life did in fact, flash before my eyes. It wasn't anything like I'd have expected it to be. I remembered the last time I talked to my mom. I remembered the day it all began. But beyond that, nothing else came. I guess it was true, my old life was dead and buried.

I felt rage burning me from the inside out. I hated these people. I knew what they would do to Raquel. It was just then, that I began to notice the tell-tale shakes that the man and his woman exerted. It was throwing his aim off. This was my chance. The only chance. I gripped the machete and ran towards him. He fired. My shoulder felt cold all of a sudden. I kept moving. The machete came down and stuck in the center of the man's forehead. He gurgled. Then he died. I dropped him to the ground. His wife was mortified. She could barely hold the gun up anymore. I smiled. I felt the man's blood all over my face. It must've been sinister, because she looked as if she'd shit herself any minute. I ran toward her and sliced her across the throat. Like her husband, she gurgled. Then she died even before her limp corpse fell to the ground. I was about to turn around when I heard a sudden volley of shots, then something heavy fell to the ground. As I turned, I saw the behemoth laying dead on the ground. I traced the sound to where I had heard it come from and Roy was limping his way into the clearing. "Catch you fuckers at a bad time?" He said as he continued to limp toward me. "They said they killed you." I said to him. "Nah. They just thought they did. They fired and I went limp. They didn't even shoot me. I hurt my leg on my way up here to help. I ran my knee into a God damned tree. Doesn't look like you've had the same luck though." He said, pointing at my shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll get Raquel out of the house and get back to the Hummer. I'll patch you up once we get there." He said, as he limped and I walked up to the open door of the rusty old shack.

The chains were locked in place, but luckily there was a key ring on the table. We quickly got Raquel unchained and loose from the wall. Her eyes kept rolling around in her skull as if she were in a daze. "Come on, Raquel. Stay with us." I said, trying to snap her back to reality. "I'm right fuckin' here. Just get me the fuck out of this place." She said. Roy and I grinned and helped her out of the house. Once we were outside she was able to walk on her own, but we kept her between us and kept our eyes vigilant in case another band of loons decided to happen across us. "You know…" I said as we walked through the forests. "The world fucking hates us. I mean, not only do we have to worry about zombies, but also diseased crazy people who can turn us into zombies… And then, to top it all off, Every God damned psycho in the two fucking states we've been through decides to put us in another Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake without the fucking cameras. This is bullshit." Raquel and Roy snickered at what I had said. "I ain't even trying to be funny… Seriously. Think about it. First, we get in a gunfight with the fuckin cult. Then, we get into shit with some fucked up mom and son as we narrowly escape getting our asses chewed off by a fuckload of zombies. Then, as we think we've found safety and security in the school, it gets raided and we fight the cult… Again. Your pregnancy, and the entire cities of Concord, Charlotte, and Greensboro, all getting leveled. What the fuck? Did Jerry Springer make a fucking Reality-TV-Zombie movie and we're the unknowing stars of it or something?". "I dunno. Maybe." Raquel responded. Having no reply, I just shook my head and walked on. Laughing at her last statement, I finally found my words. "Sarcastic bitch.". We all started laughing. It wasn't long before we broke the treeline and felt undiluted sunlight fall across our faces.

We filled our bags from the machines and took them back to the Hummer. Raquel got back behind the driver's seat and Roy patched up the bullet wound from the back seat. It had apparently gone straight through and hadn't hit any major arteries. We continued heading up the road towards what we prayed was salvation. Because we all knew, we couldn't take much more of this shit..


End file.
